Shadow Gambit
by Rocket6923
Summary: Now that Yugi no longer has the Pharaoh to guide him through duels, Seto thinks he can reclaim his world championship status. However, he plans on using a card that sends the loser's soul to the Shadow Realm. Everyone tries to warn him of the dangers of this card, but he won't listen. How far is Seto willing to go to regain his world championship status?
1. Brooding Over Defeat

**Shadow Gambit**

**Author's note: This story is based on the English dub (4KidsTV) version. Another thing is I have noticed the rules of dueling according to the show are different from the rules according to yugiohwikia. If I write a duel, I'll be following the rules according to the show. I'd also like to acknowledge my good friend Peach Wookiee for helping me come up with the title of this story.**

Disclaimer: All Yu-Gi-Oh! characters are owned by Kazuki Takahashi.

**Chapter 1: Brooding Over Defeat**

On the helicopter ride back home, Seto kept pondering over what he had just witnessed. He saw Yugi Muto defeat the Egyptian Gods in a single move. On the one hand, he was very impressed by it. At the same time witnessing such a feat made him feel weak since he had not been the one to come up with such a strategy.

When he returned home he decided to organize another tournament. He knew it would take a few months to organize one so he decided to get to work right away. He needed a title for the tournament so he decided to look at pictures of Duel Monsters cards on his computer to get ideas.

But looking over these cards kept reminding him of all those times he lost to Yugi Muto. First, he came across a picture of Exodia's head which reminded him of his first loss to Yugi. Kaiba had summoned his three Blue-Eyes White Dragons and was sure he would win the match. But Yugi pulled off a miracle and managed to draw all five pieces of Exodia, a feat no one had ever accomplished before. He was so emotionally shaken over the defeat that he dropped out of the Duelist Kingdom tournament.

Then he saw a picture of the magic card Multiply. This reminded him of his duel with Yugi in Duelist Kingdom when he was fighting to save his brother's soul. Seto, having summoned his Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, seemed to have control of the duel. However, Yugi used his magic card to multiply his Kuribohs endlessly, creating the ultimate defense. Seto may have defeated Yugi in that duel but only because he had forced Yugi to surrender. Yugi could've easily won the match, so to him it still felt like a loss.

Then he browsed the rest of the Duel Monsters cards on his computer and saw two pictures that reminded him of more heartbreak: the Dark Magician and Buster Blader. These two cards reminded him of his rematch with Yugi in the Battle City finals. Yugi had fused these two monsters together to form Dark Paladin. Because of Dark Paladin's special ability and Kaiba's dragon strategies it was the perfect monster to use against him. Seto had designed the tournament so that he would become the world champion again, but Yugi was able to defeat Seto again with the special ability of his Dark Paladin.

What he saw next pained him the most. It was a picture of Obelisk the Tormentor, a card that was once in his possession but never to be his again. He was sure that this Egyptian God would ultimately lead him to having an unbeatable deck because of its divine strength, but he lost it to Yugi in the Battle City finals. But that wasn't the only reason he was pained by looking at Obelisk. It also reminded him of the time when he challenged Yugi to a rematch after the Battle City tournament. He had summoned his Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon and doubled its attack strength with the magic card Megamorph. He thought for sure he had found a way to beat Yugi's three Egyptian Gods. But Yugi, being the clever duelist that he was, found a way around it. He sacrificed his other two Egyptian Gods to make Obelisk's strength infinite. Deep down he knew Yugi had already won by making Obelisk's strength infinite, but he did not want to admit this to himself so he ordered his Ultimate Dragon to attack anyway.

Seto looked at some Duel Monsters cards stacked neatly on his desk and then angrily smacked them, leaving a mess on the floor. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down.

_Maybe I should just accept the fact that he is better than me. After all, he did come up with a way to defeat the Egyptian Gods in a single move. _

But as days passed, he couldn't stop brooding over these losses and as a result couldn't focus on organizing his tournament. He just couldn't get over the fact that he was no longer the world champion. He became so upset that he refused to listen to the voices in his head that told him Yugi was the better duelist. Instead, he eventually created another thought in his head. Perhaps he could've beaten Yugi all those times if he hadn't gotten any help from his friend the Pharaoh.

_No! It's not fair! All those times we faced off, someone else was doing the work for him. And yet he is known as the King of Games? That honor belongs to me and me alone. No one has mastered the game of Duel Monsters like me so there's no other way he could've beaten me on his own. _

Seto called Roland into his office.

"Yes, sir. Have you come up with a title for your upcoming tournament?" asked Roland.

"No. In fact, I've decided to cancel the tournament. I have something else in mind."

"What's that?" asked Roland.

"I've decided to challenge Yugi Muto to a duel and reclaim my world championship status. Bring me by the Game Shop tomorrow afternoon."

"Yes, sir," replied Roland.

The next day, Roland drove Seto in the limo to the Game Shop. When he stepped out of the limo and entered the house, he saw Grandpa Muto.

"Yes, can I help you?" asked Grandpa.

"I need to speak to Yugi, please."

"Oh, certainly. Come right in. He's upstairs."

Seto walked upstairs and knocked on Yugi's door.

Yugi opened the door to see his rival. Joey, Tristan, and Tea were also in the room. They had been playing a game of Duel Monsters just for fun. "Hey," Yugi said puzzled to see his rival. "What's up?"

"What's up is it's time for our rematch."

"Rematch? I don't understand."

"All those times we dueled, someone else was doing all the work for you. And yet you are known as the King of Games."

"What!" cried Joey. "Are you sayin' Yugi's not the true King of Games because the Pharaoh helped him in all of his duels?"

"Well Wheeler, I see you were actually intelligent enough to figure out what I was saying. Yes, that's exactly what meant. Yugi could only beat me because he had help from his friend the Pharaoh!"

"But Kaiba …we all saw him beat the Egyptian Gods and the Pharaoh in that duel. You even said it yourself. Yugi is the King of Games," replied Joey.

"Yes, I did say that. But all those times Yugi beat me, he had help from someone else. And I don't think that Yugi has enough talent to beat me on his own."

"Kaiba …like I said…Yugi came up with a way to take down all three Egyptian Gods in a single move. What more proof do you need?"

"Please…for all I know the Pharaoh could've told him the secret to beating all three Gods."

"Is he serious?" asked Tristan.

"I'll teach you to question my friend's dueling skills! Lemme at him!" Joey charged at Kaiba but was held back by Tristan.

"Take it easy, Joey. He's not worth it," Tristan warned Joey.

Seto then looked back at Yugi who looked very nervous. "What's the matter, Yugi? Are you afraid that you can't beat me without your little friend to walk you through every single move?" Seto taunted. "That's it, isn't it? You can't do anything for yourself, can you? That's why you have to get your friends to defend you because you're not man enough to stand up for yourself."

Now Yugi had always been a very shy and timid boy, but right now he could see that this was no time for being scared. Using the gift of courage he had been given from his friend Atem, Yugi stood up to Kaiba's taunting.

"Wait! Kaiba's right. All those times we fought, I had help from the Pharaoh. I wasn't doing it on my own. Kaiba, I can see that this means a lot to you, and it's only fair that I give you your rematch. And when I beat you, perhaps you will see that I am the better duelist even without the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle to guide me."

Seto grinned happily, hearing that he would get a chance to become the world champion again. "Our rematch will be one month from now in my dueling arena. I'll give you an exact date when I'm ready. I'm going to make this a huge event. I want everyone in Domino City to know so I'll give them enough time to make plans. That way everyone can see me take you down once and for all. Have a good day."

Kaiba left the Game Shop and was driven back home in his limo, burning with anticipation for his rematch.

_As soon as everyone sees that Yugi can't beat me without the aid of his little friend, I'll once again be known as the world's greatest duelist. _


	2. Anticipation for the Upcoming Rematch

**Anticipation for the Upcoming Rematch**

Seto Kaiba turned on his TV and watched his commercial in which he advertised the upcoming rematch with him and Yugi.

"Are you a fan of Duel Monsters? Come and watch the match of the century! One month from now will be an epic battle between me and Yugi Muto, the current King of Games in the Kaiba Dome. Come and witness my return to glory as I take down Yugi Muto once and for all and reclaim my world-championship status." With that the commercial ended.

"Excellent!" Kaiba smirked from his couch. "That commercial went exactly as planned."

Meanwhile Yugi, Joey, Tristan, Duke Devlin, Bakura, Serenity, and Tea decided to head over to Burger World where Tea had once worked. When they entered, they were greeted by a hostess who started walking them toward a very large table. The restaurant was very busy with waiters taking orders and customers chattering among each other. The food cooking in the kitchen filled the air with an enticing aroma, making them all salivate. As soon as they were seated, they began looking over the menu.

"Man I can't believe that jerk Kaiba thinks Yugi's victory over the Pharaoh wasn't legit," said Joey while they all waited for the waitress to come over. "I mean can you believe what he said? That the Pharaoh told him how to beat the Egyptian Gods? That guy's a creep."

"It's because he can't get over the fact that he's no longer the world champ," said Tristan.

Just at that moment, the waitress came over. "What'll it be guys?"

"I'll have a cheeseburger with onion rings," said Joey.

"I'll have two chili cheese dogs with fries," answered Yugi.

"Let's all get some nachos and mozzarella sticks to share," added Tea.

The others gave their orders to the waitress.

"All right. Coming right up," the waitress said.

"Great! Now we can enjoy some food while we wait for Mai and Rebecca to show up," said Joey.

Tea shuddered at the mention of Rebecca's name.

"Uh, Joey, remind me again why we invited Rebecca to come."

"Because she's a genius. She's gonna help us come up with some killer strategies for Yugi to use in his duel against Kaiba."

Then Joey turned toward his buddy Yugi to give him some friendly words.

"Yugi, I know this is the first time you'll face Kaiba without help from the Pharaoh, but I know you can still beat him. I mean you do have the three God cards," said Joey.

"Yeah, but since Kaiba witnessed that ritual duel, he already knows the secret to beating the Gods if they're all out on the field at once. I'll have to think of some new strategies if I want to beat Kaiba."

"Hey guys!" said a familiar voice waving from a distance.

"Hey Mai!" said Tea. "Come over here and sit with us."

"So what's been going on?" Mai asked.

"Well Kaiba challenged Yugi to a rematch," said Tea.

"Yeah I saw a commercial about that right before I came. Why does Kaiba want his rematch so badly?"

"Well you see there were two Yugi's, the brave and confident Yugi and the gentle and care -free Yugi. When Yugi would duel, the brave Yugi would usually take over. And Kaiba thinks that if it weren't for the brave and confident Yugi then he would still be the world champ."

"Wait so you mean there were two Yugi's?" asked Mai. "I don't understand."

"Well you see, the other Yugi was really a 3000 year-old spirit named Atem who had once been king of Egypt. Before Atem's spirit could finally rest he had to compete against our Yugi in a ritual duel and lose. When Yugi won it proved he could win on his own even without the Pharaoh."

"Well I have noticed that it seems like Yugi becomes a completely different person when he duels," commented Mai.

"Yeah! And that jerk Kaiba still thinks Yugi can't duel on his own even though he saw Yugi with his own eyes take down the three Egyptian Gods in just one move," commented a still incredulous Joey.

"Take it easy, Joey," said Tristan. "He'll show Kaiba in the upcoming match."

"Wait! Yugi beat the three Egyptian Gods in one move?" asked Mai dazzled by Yugi's amazing feat. "Tell me. How did you do it?"

"Well it's simple. The Gods are the most powerful creatures in Duel Monsters. So the way to beat them is by finding a way to use their very own force against them."

"Huh?" asked Mai. "But how is that even possible? I thought magic and trap cards didn't work on the Egyptian Gods."

"Well there are exceptions. When all three Gods are out at once then it's easier to take them down. You see Slifer the Sky Dragon has a special ability. If the opponent summons a monster after Slifer is summoned to the field then it takes away 2000 attack or defense points from that monster depending on which position it's in. It does this by firing a blast from its second mouth."

"Uh huh. Go on."

"Well you see there's this neat little trap card called Magnet Force. When this trap card is in play it redirects any monster effect targeting a machine or rock-type monster back to the other user's monsters. So I used my Magnet Warriors and my Magnet Force trap card to redirect Slifer's blasts back to the Egyptian Gods. So in a way Slifer's special ability is also a weakness."

"I'm impressed. That is an amazing strategy. Then again I wouldn't expect anything less from you. After all, you are the King of Games."

"Yeah, but Kaiba doesn't think so," Yugi said sadly. "He thinks that the Pharaoh told me the secret to beating the Egyptian Gods and that I didn't come up with the strategy on my own."

"Well you'll show that creep who's boss in your rematch," Mai assured him.

"Yoo hoo!" they all heard a little girl yell.

Tea cringed.

_I_ _think_ _I_ _know_ _who_ _that_ _is._

The little girl ran up to Yugi and gave him a big hug. It was Rebecca Hawkins.

"How's my boyfriend doing?" Rebecca then looked at Tea and stuck her tongue out. Tea clenched her fists.

_I knew we shouldn't have invited that little brat out here._

"I'm doing just fine, Rebecca. We just wanted to let you know that I'm having a rematch with Seto Kaiba next month."

"That mean old Kaiba. Well I'll be there to cheer on my Yugi-poo."

After Rebecca and Mai ordered some food, the gang began discussing possible strategies that Yugi could use against Kaiba.

"All right, guys. Now let's talk strategies. How is Yugi gonna beat Kaiba without the Pharaoh's help?" asked Joey.

"Don't worry. With my genius brain, we'll be sure to come up with plenty of strategies that will take even Kaiba by surprise," said Rebecca.

"Well my Magnet Warriors have always helped me out so I'll be sure to put those in my deck."

"And ya can't forget about those God cards, Yugi," said Joey taking a big bite out of his burger.

"But Yugi should be careful," added Bakura. "If he has Slifer on the field, Kaiba will probably use the same trick that Yugi used to make Slifer's special ability backfire."

"Yeah, you're right. My Winged Dragon of Ra should do the trick. Its special ability will allow me to incinerate one of Kaiba's monsters. All I have to do is make sure I have enough life points to spare to activate its special ability."

"Don't forget about his Blue-Eyes White Dragons. He sure loves those. You'll want to be sure you can beat those," said Rebecca.

"Hey! That's it!" exclaimed Yugi. "Everyone knows that Kaiba loves using a dragon-themed deck. So I'll be sure to put in my Buster Blader."

"Don't forget about Kaiba's Crush card," added Mai.

"Yes. So I'll need a way to counter that as well."

The gang spent the rest of their time discussing possible strategies that Yugi could use.

Edited on 11/16/2011: I made some changes in which I attempted to describe the scenery a little more. These are not major changes to the chapter.

**Author's note: I had a lot of trouble with this chapter. I'd really like some feedback on how to make it more interesting. **

**Edited on 7/22/2014: I made a minor change to this chapter. I changed 5000 to 3000 so that it was more accurate with what Takahashi intended.**


	3. Confronting a Guardian

**Confronting a Guardian**

After Seto watched the commercial, he went back to his computer to look at pictures of more Duel Monsters cards. While browsing the pictures he saw one that made him furious, even more furious than the pictures he had seen of Exodia's head and the Multiply card. It was a picture of Guardian Eatos, a rare and powerful card. What made it so powerful was its special ability. Whenever this monster was equipped with Celestial Sword, its attack power increased by the attack points of each monster in the opposing graveyard. And it had 2500 attack points on its own even without the Celestial Sword. The picture reminded him of the phone call he had received on that fateful day.

_Flashback_

Seto was sitting in his office when his phone rang.

"What is it?" he answered in a way that indicated he really wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone.

"There's a Mr. Wheeler on the line for you, sir," his secretary answered.

"Oh great!" Seto muttered. "Put him through."

"Yes sir."

Then the image on the computer changed from his receptionist to Joey's eye.

"He really took your call?" he overheard Tea say.

"What? He did? Kaiba is that you in there?" Joey said in a very annoying manner with his face really close to the screen.

"It works better when you step back from the Web cam!" yelled Mokuba in frustration.

"Eh? Hey! You're right."

Joey stepped back giving Seto a view of Tea, the Pharaoh, Joey, Tristan, and Duke.

"Make it fast, Wheeler," Seto said impatiently.

"We found some clues about those biker punks."

"What kind of clues?" he asked curiously.

"I'm not givin' them out that easily, Kaiba. But if you give us a lift to Florida, I'll fill ya in on the way."

"So what's it gonna be?" said Tristan.

"Time is runnin' out!" Joey said urgently. "Those creeps defeated Yugi and took his soul!"

"Oh!" everyone else in the background gasped.

Tristan grabbed Joey by the mouth and pulled his head back.

"Way to keep a secret, lame brain!"

Joey countered by smashing Tristan's face.

"Please disregard my last statement, folks," Joey said while waving his hand around.

The look on Seto's face changed. He smashed his hand on his desk.

"Rrrr! YUGI LOST!" Seto breathed deeply. "Yugi gave his Duel Monsters Championship Crown to some nobody? No one deserves that title but me. I don't wanna hear another word. You're a disgrace to the game, Yugi."

Seto slammed the phone back on the receiver and breathed heavily.

_End Flashback_

Just staring at the monster in the headdress made his blood boil. How could someone other than himself beat Yugi in a game of Duel Monsters? That was supposed to be his honor and no one else's.

Seto walked over to a filing cabinet and angrily kicked it down. The crash from within his office caught Roland's attention who was right in the hallway. Roland opened the door to see if everything was alright.

"Sir is everything alright?" asked Roland.

"Yes, everything is fine," Seto replied embarrassed.

"Do you need help picking up that filing cabinet?"

"No thanks," Seto responded in an attempt to sound cool. "I just need a moment alone."

With that, Roland left the office. Seto breathed heavily and tried to calm himself down. But he couldn't stop brooding over the fact that there was someone else out there who had the talent to defeat Yugi Muto. What bothered him even more was the fact that Rafael could've easily defeated the Pharaoh a second time had he chosen not to surrender the duel.

When Seto went to bed, he had a nightmare. In his nightmare he was on the rooftop of some building at night with stars shining brightly and a few clouds interspersed throughout the sky. He saw the Pharaoh dueling against Rafael inside of the barrier formed by the Seal of Orichalcos. Mokuba, Tea, and Tristan (who was carrying Joey Wheeler's body on his back) were there watching the rematch with him. Everyone in the gang was rooting for the Pharaoh so he wouldn't lose his soul. However, Seto was hoping the Pharaoh would win for a different reason from the rest of the gang.

_The Pharaoh better not let this chump defeat him again. I'm the only one who deserves that glory. _

"Now I'll use the power of Underworld Circle to bring back my Guardian Grarl (ATK 2500, DEF 1000)." A giant lizard with light brown skin appeared on the field. "Next I'll use my Soul Charge magic card to bring back two monsters from my graveyard." Rafael then revived Guardian Elma (ATK 1300, DEF 1200) and Guardian Kay'est (ATK 1000, DEF 1800). "For every monster I revive using this magic card I lose 500 life points so I still have 200 life points left." Rafael's life points dropped from 1200 to 200.

_Wait! That's not how I remember this happening. I could've sworn he revived three monsters to deplete his own life points. _

"Now Guardian Grarl, destroy his Big Shield Gardna." Guardian Grarl wound up his fist and punched the Pharaoh's Big Shield Gardna. "On my next turn, you're finished."

_The Pharaoh had better come up with a plan to take down his monsters._

"I'll use the power of Underworld Circle to bring back my King's Knight (ATK 1600, DEF 1400) in Defense Mode. Then I'll activate the magic card Pot of Greed. This lets me draw two cards."

The Pharaoh drew his next two cards and smirked when he saw what he had drawn. "I'll set these two cards facedown. That's all I can do."

_Those facedown cards had better be able to protect him. _

"All right. It's my move. I'll use the power of Underworld Circle to revive my Backup Gardna (ATK 500, DEF 2200). Then I'll switch my Guardian Elma and Guardian Kay'est to Attack Mode. Before I launch my attack, I'll use my Heavy Storm magic card to destroy those facedown cards of yours."

A heavy wind started blowing in the air. The Pharaoh's two facedown cards flipped up. They were revealed to be Mirror Force and the Spellbinding Circle.

"Oh no! Now my King's Knight is vulnerable to an attack!"

"That's right, Pharaoh. Now that your traps are out of the way I can launch my attack. Guardian Grarl, destroy his King's Knight."

Guardian Grarl pumped up his fists again and smashed the Pharaoh's King's Knight.

"Now Guardian Elma, it's your turn. Attack him directly."

Elma attacked the Pharaoh directly reducing his life points to 0. Everyone watching the duel gasped as the Orichalcos closed around Atem.

"Say goodbye to your soul, Pharaoh."

_I can't believe the Pharaoh lost to this chump again._

"NOOOOOOOO!" yelled Seto. Seto awoke from his nightmare breathing deeply. He was completely covered in sweat. There was a knock at his door.

"Big brother, are you all right?" asked his little brother Mokuba.

"Yeah! I'm fine," Seto said trying to calm down. "Go back to bed."

"Okay."

_Man, I really need to go for a walk around the block._

Seto stepped out in the middle of the night to take a walk. While Seto was walking around the block he became pensive over his dream. What happened in his dream could've easily happened in the rematch if Rafael had chosen not to surrender the duel. Then a thought occurred to him.

_It's been a while since I last dueled. If I tried to duel Yugi without practicing first I might not do so well. Well what better way to practice than by dueling the one person who succeeded in defeating Yugi Muto? And Yugi is very familiar with my deck. So why not challenge this duelist for a few new cards?_

After Seto returned from his walk, he fell in a deep tranquil sleep. Of course he would have to track down Rafael first, but with his KaibaCorp technology he would be able to do it.

When Seto went to his office the next morning, he immediately called Roland into his office.

"Yes?" asked Roland.

"I called you in because I want to track down anyone who has used this card recently." Seto then turned his computer toward Roland who saw the picture of Guardian Eatos.

"But how will we do that?" he employee inquired.

"KaibaCorp technology is so advanced it can detect whether or not someone has activated a certain card on a duel disk recently. Tell the technicians to get on it right away."

"Yes, sir."

Seto followed Roland to the lab where the computer techs were working.

"All right, everyone. Listen up! Stop what you're doing. I need everyone to try to locate anyone who has activated a Guardian Eatos card recently," Roland told the technicians.

The techs then got to work entering commands into the computers.

Meanwhile inside of a motorcycle shop that was getting ready to close, Rafael was dueling against one of his employees.

"Guardian Eatos, attack his life points directly."

Guardian Eatos brought Rafael's opponent's life points to 0.

"Wow! You are good," his employee answered.

"All right, Dwayne. It's time to close this shop. By the way, you did very well for your first day on the job. Selling two motorcycles in one day is something to be proud of. With your skills, I think our business can do well."

"Thank you, sir," his employee Dwayne answered.

Meanwhile back at the KaibaCorp lab, one of the computers started blinking wildly. "Sir, we've just gotten a signal on one of our computers that detected someone using a Guardian Eatos card at this location." Roland then pointed to a location on the computer.

"Excellent! Tomorrow I want you to drive me by that spot."

The next day Roland drove Seto to the spot. It was a motorcycle shop. Seto walked inside of the motorcycle shop.

"Hello. How can I help you?" asked Rafael, thinking that the man who just entered was there to buy a motorcycle.

Seto recognized the burly man. "Is your name Rafael?"

"Yes. Have you heard about our motorcycles?"

"No, actually. I'm here to duel you."

"To duel me? But why?" Then Rafael recognized the man. "Wait! I know you. You're Seto Kaiba, the former world champ. And you were dueling against Dartz with the Pharaoh."

"Yes, that's me," Seto responded.

"So why do you want to duel me?"

"Because I want to win my world championship status back from Yugi Muto. And I think the best way to get ready is by challenging the one duelist who actually managed to defeat Yugi Muto in a duel. I don't know of anyone who's done that besides you."

"I see."

"So here's how it'll work. If you win the duel, I'll give you these." Seto then held up his three Blue-Eyes White Dragon cards. "But if I win, I'll get to take any three cards from your deck. So how about we duel?"

"No," Rafael replied bluntly. "I never part with my monsters under any circumstances."

"But why?"

"Because these monsters saved my life." Rafael then showed Seto Guardian Grarl, Guardian Eatos, and Guardian Kay'est. "When I was young, I was stranded on an island and did nothing but play Duel Monsters until I returned to civilization. And even though I've never lost a game of Duel Monsters, except when I surrendered to the Pharaoh, I could never risk parting with my monsters."

Seto was about to leave disappointed, but then he got another crazy idea. He walked over to one of the motorcycles and made note of the name of the company that made it. He could see that the company that made the motorcycles Rafael sold was Hi-Bird.

Seto walked back to the limo where Roland was waiting.

"So did he agree to duel you?" asked Roland.

"No, but I think I know how we can make him duel. First we must purchase 51% of the company Hi-Bird."

The next day, Seto used a ridiculous amount of money to buy 51% of Hi-Bird. Of course, Seto, being the affluent man he was, was able to afford it and still have a reasonable amount of money left. Then Seto was about to get Roland to drive him back to the motorcycle shop when he was stopped by his little brother Mokuba.

"Where ya goin', big brother?" he asked.

"I'm going to duel somebody."

"But I thought your duel with Yugi wasn't for a while."

"It's not Yugi I'm about to duel. I need a practice duel so I'm going to duel one of those biker punks that defeated Yugi in a duel when we were dealing with that Orichalcos problem."

"Cool! Can I come?"

"Why not?"

Mokuba got in the limo, and Roland drove both Seto and Mokuba back to the motorcycle shop.

"Stay here, guys," Seto said to both Roland and Mokuba. "I'll come get you all when I'm about to duel."

Seto walked inside of the motorcycle shop.

"It's you again," said Rafael. "I already told you there's nothing you can do to make me risk losing my monsters."

"I'm afraid you're wrong, Rafael," Seto countered. "Are you familiar with the company Hi-Bird?"

"Yes. That's the name of the company that makes our motorcycles."

"Well guess what? I now own 51% of that company. And unless you agree to duel me, I'll make sure that company stops the production of its motorcycles."

"But that would put me out of business."

"Exactly. So what's it gonna be?"

"Fine. I'll duel you to protect my company. And if I win, I get your three Blue-Eyes White Dragon cards."

"Yes, and when you lose I'll get to take any three cards I want from your deck. And I know exactly which cards I need."

Then another person stepped in. It was Dwayne, the other person working at the motorcycle shop.

"Hey boss. What's going on?"

"This punk purchased 51% of the company that makes our motorcycles. And unless I agree to duel him, he'll put us out of business."

"Well I'm not too worried about it, boss. You never lose."

"Well that's gonna change today," said Seto. "Before we begin this duel, I'm going to get a couple of friends of mine to come watch the duel."

Seto then walked back out to the limo to get Mokuba and Roland to come inside the motorcycle shop. Seto and Rafael took their positions.

"Time to duel!" they both yelled.

**Author's note: On yugiohwikia it states that during a turn Guardian Eatos can remove up to three monsters from the opponent's graveyard and gain 500 attack points for each monster removed until the end of the turn. This is not how I'm using it. The way I'm using this monster is as follows. It initially has 2500 attack points. When it is equipped with Celestial Sword, the attack points of all monsters in the opponent's graveyard get added to Eatos's attack points. Additionally, for this fan fiction, when Eatos gains attack points in this way, the monsters are staying in the graveyard and not being removed from play. Also Eatos will keep these added attack points as long as those monsters stay in the graveyard instead of just keeping them for one turn. The reason I'm using it this way is because this is the way I understood it to work when I watched Fate of the Pharaoh. I think it will also make the duels more interesting if I use Eatos in this way. So when you're reading a duel that features this monster please note that I did do the research on this card. I'm just choosing to use it in a different way. **


	4. Duel with a Guardian Part 1

**Duel with a Guardian Part 1**

Both duelists were holding five cards.

"I'll start things off if ya don't mind," yelled Rafael in his own motorcycle shop. "First I'll activate a magic card known as Guardian Treasure. This let's me draw two new cards as long as I get rid of the five I'm holding. And I can draw two new cards every turn from now on as long as Guardian Treasure is in play."

Rafael tossed out his entire hand and then drew his next two cards. "I summon a monster facedown in Defense Mode. Then I'll place one card facedown and end my turn."

_That fool thinks his life points are safe because his monster's in Defense Mode. Well he's in for a surprise. _

"My turn," yelled Seto as he drew his first card. "I'll set four cards facedown and then summon my Spear Dragon (ATK 1900, DEF 0) in Attack Mode. You may think your life points are safe, but they aren't because of my Spear Dragon's special ability. If it attacks a monster in Defense Mode then the difference between my monster's attack points and your monster's defense points is dealt to you as damage. Now, attack his facedown monster."

However, when the Spear Dragon attacked, Seto's life points went down to 3700. Rafael's facedown monster was an ugly purple beast with horns coming out of its shoulders, bandages on its wrists, and long red hair.

"Huh? What gives?"

"That was my Backup Gardna (ATK 500, DEF 2200) you just attacked. Its defense was stronger than your monster's attack points so my life points are safe."

Rafael drew his next two cards. "I switch my Backup Gardna into Attack Mode."

_Oh no! Since my Spear Dragon automatically switches into Defense Mode after it attacks and has 0 defense points, he can use his Backup Gardna to destroy my Spear Dragon._

"Next I play the magic card Gravity Axe." Suddenly, an axe fell from the sky and embedded itself into the floor.

"Since I have only one card in my hand and have Gravity Axe in play, I can Special Summon my Guardian Grarl (ATK 2500, DEF 1000)."

And indeed a giant lizard emerged onto the field.

"By the way, my Gravity Axe gives my Grarl an extra 500 attack points." Grarl's attack points rose from 2500 to 3000.

"Now Backup Gardna, destroy his Spear Dragon."

The Backup Gardna charged forward and destroyed Seto's Spear Dragon.

"Now your life points are wide open. Guardian Grarl, attack him directly."

_I have to act now or I'll lose 3000 life points! _

"I don't think so Rafael. I'll activate one of my facedown cards, Ring of Destruction. And I'll put the ring around your Guardian Grarl."

One of Seto's facedown cards flipped up. It was a ring with red light bulbs on it. The fiery collar wrapped itself around Guardian Grarl and started spinning around him very rapidly.

"Now here's how it works. When my Ring destroys a monster, we both take damage equal to the attacking monster's attack points. But only you will lose life points because I activate another facedown card Ring of Defense."

Another card flipped up on the field and then materialized. Then something that looked like a fan with metal blades started spinning to shield Seto's life points.

"I know how you hate having monsters in your graveyard from watching your rematch with the Pharaoh. Well that's too bad because my trap card is about to send a monster of yours to the Graveyard."

"I don't think so," cried Rafael. "I activate a trap card of my own, Guardian Force, to destroy your Ring of Destruction. It automatically deactivates any trap card or magic card I choose, as long as there aren't any Guardian Monsters in my Graveyard."

Suddenly, the collar around Guardian Grarl shattered.

"Now my Grarl can resume his attack."

"Not so fast! I play my Shrink card so your monster will lose half of its original attack points for one turn." Grarl's original attack points were 2500 so it lost 1250 attack points leaving it with 1750 attack points. Guardian Grarl charged forward and slashed at Seto's chest reducing him to 1950 life points.

"Ughh!" yelled Seto after recovering from Guardian Grarl's attack.

_I_ _can__'__t_ _believe_ _that_ _punk_ _already_ _summoned_ _a_ _monster_ _with_ _3000_ _attack_ _points._ _He_ _may_ _have_ _the_ _lead_ _right_ _now,_ _but_ _he_ _made_ _one_ _fatal_ _mistake._ _He_ _left_ _his_ _Backup_ _Gardna_ _in_ _Attack_ _Mode,_ _and_ _it_ _only_ _has_ _500_ _attack_ _points._ _All_ _I_ _have_ _to_ _do_ _is_ _summon_ _a_ _monster_ _and_ _launch_ _an_ _attack._

Seto drew his next card. "Now I activate the magic card, Card of Sanctity. We each draw until we are both holding six cards. Next I activate the magic card Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your Gravity Axe."

A small tornado started spinning toward the Gravity Axe and destroyed it.

"Now that your Gravity Axe is gone, your Grarl is weaker, and my monsters can change battle positions. Now I summon Vorse Raider (ATK 1900, DEF 1200) to the field in Attack Mode." An ugly beast wearing a helmet with horns and wielding an axe emerged to the field.

"Since you were foolish enough to leave your Backup Gardna in Attack Mode, I'll have my Vorse Raider attack it. Go, Vorse Raider, destroy his Backup Gardna!"

Vorse Raider dashed forward and swung his axe toward Rafael's Backup Gardna.

"I don't think so. I activate Rescuer from the Grave."

Suddenly, Seto's attack was stopped.

"What's going on?"

"I played a spell from my Graveyard, Rescuer from the Grave. It's a spell card that can only be activated when it's in my Graveyard. All I have to do is remove five cards from my Graveyard, and it stops your attack."

Seto growled in frustration. "I'll set one card facedown and end my turn."

Rafael smiled when he drew his next two cards.

"I can end this duel on this turn, and claim your three Blue-Eyes White Dragons. But first I'll play the magic card Butterfly Dagger. This handy weapon gives my Backup Gardna 300 extra attack points."

A dagger appeared in Backup Gardna's hands as its attack points rose from 500 to 800.

"But that's not all it does. It also allows me to Special Summon my Guardian Elma (ATK 1300, DEF 1200) from my hand. And I'll place her in Attack Mode."

A woman wearing a cape and warrior-type clothing appeared on the field.

"The special ability of my Backup Gardna allows me to transfer my Butterfly Dagger to my Guardian Elma."

The dagger was transferred to Guardian Elma. Backup Gardna's attack points went back down to 500 while Guardian Elma's rose to 1600.

"Once my Guardian Grarl destroys your Vorse Raider, I'll be able to attack your life points directly with my Guardian Elma and end this duel. Now Guardian Grarl, attack his Vorse Raider."

Rafael's giant lizard was about to chop down Seto's Vorse Raider, but Seto had other things planned.

"Hold on! I'll activate the trap card I set last turn, Zero Gravity. Here's how it works. When I activate this trap card, every monster switches its battle mode. So now all monsters will switch into Defense Mode."

"Now you're just stalling for time. I'll end my turn by setting one card facedown."

"It's my turn," yelled Seto as he drew his next card. "First I activate the magic card, Graceful Charity. So I'll draw three cards and discard two. Next I summon the Ancient Lamp (ATK 900, DEF 1400) in Defense Mode. This allows me to Special Summon La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp (ATK 1800, DEF 1000) in Defense Mode. Finally, I'll activate the magic card Monster Reborn to bring back my Giant Germ (ATK 1000, DEF 100) in Defense Mode."

"Wait! I never sent your Giant Germ to the Graveyard."

"No, but I did when I played my Graceful Charity card. Now I have four monsters defending my life points."

"You may have your defenses line up for now, but that's all about to change," Rafael said as he drew his next two cards. "Since I have no monsters in my Graveyard I can Special Summon this monster from my hand, Guardian Eatos (ATK 2500, DEF 2000). And I put her in Attack Mode."

A monster wearing a headdress that was a bird's head with giant wings on the back appeared on the field.

"Say hello to the monster that defeated the Pharaoh."

Seto remembered how angry he was the day he saw the picture of Guardian Eatos on his computer.

_I know what he's trying to do. He's trying to show me that he did something I never could: beat Yugi Muto in a duel. Well he won't have the upper hand for much longer._

"But that's not all. I also play a magic card, Purity of the Cemetery. Here's how it works. For every one of your turns you lose 100 life points for every monster in your Graveyard. And as long as my Graveyard stays empty, this card stays in play. Now Guardian Eatos, destroy his Ancient Lamp."

Guardian Eatos shot out a blast of energy from her mouth which obliterated the lamp.

"Grarl, it's your turn. Destroy his genie."

Grarl pumped up his fists and punched La Jinn.

"Now Guardian Elma, destroy his Vorse Raider."

Guardian Elma dashed forward and plunged her dagger into Kaiba's Vorse Raider.

"Now all I have to do is destroy your Giant Germ with my Backup Gardna, and you'll have nothing left to protect you. Backup Gardna, destroy his Giant Germ."

Backup Gardna ran up to the Giant Germ and attacked it.

"Ha!" laughed Kaiba. "You've activated my Giant Germ's special ability. Whenever my Giant Germ is destroyed in battle it inflicts 500 points of damage to you."

"I don't think so," said Rafael. "I activate my trap card Damage Polarizer. It reduces any damage to an effect to 0. I'll end my turn by placing this card facedown."

"Rrrr," Seto grunted.

Seto drew his next card but felt his life points drop from 1950 to 1450 since he had five monsters in his Graveyard (namely Spear Dragon, Vorse Raider, the Ancient Lamp, La Jinn, and Giant Germ).

As soon as Seto looked at the card he had drawn, he smirked.

_This card could be useful for me in this situation. _

"I place this monster facedown in Defense Mode and end my turn."

"That's all you can do?" laughed Rafael. It's no wonder I'm the one who was able to defeat the Pharaoh while you're just an outdated joke. You haven't even touched my life points."

Seto became extremely angry at this. "You may have the lead right now, but this duel is far from over."

"It's time for me to show you why I'm the one who defeated the Pharaoh," said Rafael as he drew his next two cards. "But first let me introduce you to another one of my Guardian monsters. I play the magic card Rod of Silence which lets me Special Summon my Guardian Kay'est (ATK 1000, DEF 1800)."

Soon a rod appeared on the field and then a monster resembling a mermaid appeared on the field.

"Now all I have to do is destroy your facedown monster and I can attack your life points directly. Guardian Eatos, destroy his facedown monster."

Guardian Eatos opened up her mouth and shot out an energy ball from it, hitting his facedown monster.

"You fool! The monster you just attacked was my Cyber Jar (ATK 900, DEF 900). It's effect destroys all monsters on the field. So your Purity of the Cemetery is destroyed."

Suddenly, the Cyber Jar flipped up and sucked all of Rafael's monsters into a vortex. However, Rafael had other plans.

"Reveal facedown card, Soul Charge." Then Rafael's life points dropped from 4000 to 1500. "This card lets me revive any number of monsters from my Graveyard at a cost of 500 life points per monster. In exchange, these monsters cannot attack during the same turn they were revived. So my Graveyard stays empty which means my Purity of the Cemetery stays in effect.

"My Cyber Jar has one other effect. It allows us to draw the top five cards from our deck and then summon all Level 4 and below monsters. But since you already have five monsters on your side of the field you can't summon any more monsters."

Seto was able to Special Summon his Mystical Elf (ATK 800, DEF 2000) to the field in Attack Mode.

"No, but I can still set this one card facedown." Rafael placed one of his cards facedown before ending his turn.

"Now it's my turn," said Seto. As he drew his next card he lost 600 life points because of Purity of the Cemetery leaving him with 1eaving him with 850 life points.

_Hmmm. The effect of Cyber Jar gave me a really great hand. I think I have what I need to take down this biker punk._

"First I'll switch my Mystical Elf into Defense Mode. Now I activate the magic card Polymerization, fusing together the three Blue-Eyes White Dragons in my hand to create Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon (ATK 4500, DEF 3800)."

A vortex opened up and a large blue dragon bearing three heads appeared on the field.

"Lucky for you my Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon can't attack this turn since it is a fusion monster. So I'll end my turn by placing two cards facedown."

Rafael drew his next two cards.

"Now I equip my Guardian Elma with Guardian Shield." Guardian Elma was equipped with a shield shaped like a buttefly, and her defense points went up to 1500. "Next I'll equip my Guardian Eatos with the magic card Celestial Sword so all the attack points of the monsters in your Graveyard get added to my monster."

In Seto's Graveyard were Spear Dragon with 1900 attack points, Vorse Raider with 1900 attack points, the Ancient Lamp with 900 attack points, La Jinn with 1800 attack points, Giant Germ with 1000 attack points, and Cyber Jar with 900 attack points. These monsters had a total attack power of 8400. These attack points were added to Eatos so that her attack strength was now 10900.

Seto was dumbfounded. "Your monster has 10900 attack points!"

"That's right!" said Rafael. "Now I activate my trap card, Crystal Seal. This will put your Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon into a crystal."

Purple crystals emerged from the ground and surrounded the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon.

"No way!" cried Kaiba.

"Now your Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon is useless. All I have to do is remove your Mystical Elf from the field. Once I take care of your Mystical Elf, I'll have my Grarl attack you directly. Guardian Eatos, destroy his Mystical Elf."

**Author's note: If I've made any mistakes in the duel, tell me what they are, and I'll go back and fix them. For Card of Sanctity I'm going with the way it works on the show and not the way it works on yugiohwikia. **

**I also made small changes to the previous chapters, not major changes. **

Updated 12/08/2011: I had to go back and fix a mistake. The Ancient Lamp's defense points are higher than Guardian Kay'est's attack points so I couldn't have Guardian Kay'est destroy the Ancient Lamp.


	5. Duel with a Guardian Part 2

**Duel with a Guardian Part 2**

Seto had 850 life points left while Rafael had 1500.

On the field Seto had three facedown cards, his Mystical Elf in Defense Mode, and his Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon trapped inside the Crystal Seal. Rafael had Guardian Treasure and Purity of the Cemetery in play. His Backup Gardna, Guardian Kay'est, Guardian Elma, Guardian Grarl, and Guardian Eatos were all in Attack Mode. Eatos was equipped with Celestial Sword giving it 10900 attack points, and Guardian Elma was equipped with Guardian Shield.

"As soon as your Mystical Elf is out of the way, I can attack your life points directly."

Guardian Eatos was about to strike the Mystical Elf, but Seto had something else planned.

"Hold on, Rafael. I activate my facedown card, Attack Guidance Armor, and I'll attach it to your Guardian Grarl. Now your Guardian Eatos will attack your Grarl instead of my Mystical Elf."

An armor suit appeared on the field and attached itself to Rafael's Grarl. Then Eatos kept looking back and forth between the Mystical Elf and Guardian Grarl, hesitating which target she should attack. Then she turned toward Guardian Grarl and charged.

"As soon as your Guardian Eatos attacks your Grarl, your life points will drop to 0."

"I don't think so. Elma, defend."

Then Guardian Elma stepped in between Guardian Grarl and Guardian Eatos. Eatos's sword ended up striking Elma's shield instead of Rafael's Grarl.

"What did you just do?"

"That's the ability of my Guardian Shield. When one of my monsters is about to be destroyed in battle I can send the shield to the Graveyard to save my monster at a cost of 500 life points." Rafael's life points dropped from 1500 to 1000.

"I'll switch my Backup Gardna, Guardian Elma, and Guardian Kay'est into Defense Mode and set this facedown. That ends my turn."

Seto drew his next card and felt his life points drop from 850 to 250 due to the effect of Purity of the Cemetery.

"As soon as my next turn ends, you'll automatically lose," said Rafael.

"Too bad that's not gonna happen since I'll be getting rid of your Purity of the Cemetery magic card this turn."

"But how? You only have 1 card in your hand."

"I may only have one card in my hand right now, but it's exactly what I need. It's my Pot of Greed magic card. So I'll draw two more cards."

Seto drew two more cards.

"Your Guardian Eatos may have 10900 attack points right now, but that's all about to change because I play my second Mystical Space Typhoon magic card to destroy it."

"Oh no!"

A tornado started spinning toward the sword and destroyed it. Eatos's attack points went down to 2500.

"I know your monster only has those extra attack points when it's equipped with Celestial Sword. Otherwise its attack strength gets reduced to its original 2500, making it weak enough for my Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon to destroy."

"So what? It's not like your Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon can do anything anyway as long as he's trapped in the seal. And the only way you can release him is by increasing his attack points."

"Please don't tell me you're not aware of the special ability of my Mystical Elf. She has the ability to transfer her attack points to my dragon."

"But that means you'll be able to free your dragon."

"Now you're catching on."

The Mystical Elf transferred all 800 of her attack points to Kaiba's Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon giving it 5300 attack points.

"Now Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, destroy his Guardian Eatos."

The Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon blasted Guardian Eatos.

"That means you lose 2800 life points, Rafael. So I win."

"Not exactly."

"What do you mean?" asked Seto dumbfounded.

"I activate the trap card, Reduction Barrier so now I'll only lose 280 attack points." Rafael's life points dropped from 1000 to 720. "This duel is not over yet."

"But at least I've destroyed your Purity of the Cemetery."

"That may be, but when you destroyed Eatos, you unleashed an even more devastating creature."

The ground began to split as if there was an earthquake. Then a creature resembling a zombie climbed onto the surface.

"Meet my Guardian Dreadscythe (ATK 2500, DEF 2000)."

"Dang, boss. I've never seen you play that monster before," said Dwayne watching the match.

"You've just sealed your own fate by destroying my favorite monster. No one destroys my Guardian Eatos and gets away with it."

Kaiba stared at the beast. "I'll end my turn by placing the only card left in my hand facedown."

"My move," yelled Rafael drawing two more cards. "Are you aware of the special ability of my Guardian Dreadscythe. I can boost her power with the magic card Reaper Scythe. When I equip my Guardian Dreadscythe with this handy weapon she gains 500 attack points for every monster in my Graveyard." Guardian Dreadscythe's attack points rose to 3000 due to Guardian Eatos being in the Graveyard.

"Now I sacrifice all of my other monsters so I can raise the strength of my Guardian Dreadscythe." Suddenly the other four monsters on Rafael's side of the field vanished. Guardian Dreadscythe's attack points went up by 2000 giving it a total of 5000 attack points.

"Now this is for threatening to put me out of business. Guardian Dreadscythe, destroy his Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon."

Guardian Dreadscythe swung her reaper toward the three-headed dragon, but then the dragon disappeared and formed back into the three original dragons.

"What did you just do?" asked Rafael wondering why Dreadscythe had missed her target.

"I activated my facedown card De-Fusion. Since you ordered your monster to attack my fusion monster and I de-fused it, your monster no longer had a target," explained Seto.

"I end my turn!" yelled Rafael in frustration.

Seto then drew his next card. "I play the magic card Pot of Greed which lets me draw two more cards." When Seto drew his next two cards he let out an evil laugh.

"I have just the thing I need to take you down, Rafael."

"But my monster's attack strength is far greater than yours."

"That may be, but it doesn't matter because one of the two cards I'm holding will automatically destroy your monster."

"I guess you weren't paying any attention when I was dueling the Pharaoh. My Guardian Dreadscythe is indestructible. All I have to do is discard one card from my hand, and my monster will just come right back. So it doesn't matter what card you just drew."

But Seto merely smirked. "Yes, I'm aware that you can revive your monster. However, that only works if you have cards in your hand to discard. If there are no cards in your hand for you to discard then you can't revive your monster."

"Well in case you haven't noticed I'm holding six cards."

"But not for long," retorted Seto. "Didn't you notice at the beginning of our duel that I placed a card facedown but haven't activated yet? Well now it's time for me to reveal it. Life Shaver!"

A card flipped face-up on the field. It looked like a broken hour glass with sand falling out of it and cards falling from the sky.

"Now you must discard one card from your hand for each of my turns that this card has been set. In other words, your entire hand goes to the Graveyard."

"But that means I won't be able to revive my Guardian Dreadscythe!" cried Rafael as Seto's trap forced him to send all of his cards to the Graveyard.

"That's exactly what it means, Rafael. Now I activate the magic card Tribute to the Doomed. By discarding one card from my hand, I can automatically destroy your Guardian Dreadscythe."

Seto discarded the other card in his hand. Then bandages started wrapping around Guardian Dreadscythe, and a mummy's hand shot up from underground to drag the creature below the earth. Since Rafael had no cards in his hand due to Seto's trap card Life Shaver, he was unable to bring back his creature of darkness.

"My monster's gone! Now I'm wide open for an attack."

"That's right. Now take it away, Blue-Eyes. Attack him directly."

One of Seto's Blue-Eyes White Dragons attacked Rafael directly bringing his life points down to 0.

"No! I lost!"

"That's right. Now you remember our deal, right? I get to pick three cards from your deck and keep them for myself."

"Go ahead. Take what you want. But know this. I share a powerful bond with my Guardian creatures, and if you take any of them, they will return to me."

Seto looked through Rafael's deck. He took his Guardian Eatos and Celestial Sword card but couldn't find the other card he was looking for. He spent another ten minutes thumbing through the deck but was still unable to locate the third card he was thinking of.

"What's taking so long?" asked Rafael.

"Where is it?" asked Seto.

"If you're referring to the Orichalcos card, you're wasting your time. I tore that card up as soon as the Pharaoh opened me up to the truth."

"But why would you get rid of such a powerful card?"

"Because that card is nothing but evil."

Seto became furious. "Tell me where I can find another copy of it," he demanded to know.

"If I were you, I'd stay away from that card."

"Fine. I'll figure out where I can find one on my own. But I'm still taking these two," said Seto showing Rafael the Celestial Sword and Guardian Eatos cards.

"Not Eatos. That's my favorite monster."

"Well it belongs to someone else now."

"By the way, I know about your upcoming rematch with the current King of Games. I will be there, and as soon as the match is over I will take back my Guardian Eatos and Celestial Sword cards. And don't think your top-notch security can stop me from taking back what's rightfully mine."

Seto merely ignored Rafael's last comment and walked outside of the motorcycle shop with Roland and Mokuba.

"That was one awesome duel, big brother. That was very clever how you played that Life Shaver trap card in the end to prevent Rafael from reviving his Guardian Dreadscythe."

"Yes, well beating the duelist who beat the King of Games was one thing. He was a tough opponent, and I can certainly see why Yugi had trouble with him. But I won't be satisfied until I defeat the King of Games himself. And it all starts with finding that magic card before our rematch."

Seto and Mokuba got into the limo, and Roland drove them home.

_Excellent. As soon as Seto finds a copy of the Orichalcos magic card and activates it, I'll be able to take complete control of his body._

**Author's note: Some of you might be wondering who that evil spirit is at the end. Don't expect me to give anything away just yet. Just keep reading, and you'll find out.**

Updated 12/21/2011: I had to fix the ending of this duel because of a mistake with Burst Stream of Destruction. Blue-Eyes White Dragon cannot attack on the same turn Burst Stream of Destruction is activated. This goes for ANY copy of Blue-Eyes White Dragon on the field, not simply the one that destroyed all opposing monsters. I replaced Burst Stream of Destruction with Tribute to the Doomed.


	6. Lost City of Atlantis

**Lost City of Atlantis**

**Author's note: I had to go back and make a few small corrections to the duel between Seto and Rafael because the defense points of the Ancient Lamp were higher than the attack points of Guardian Kay'est.**

After they got home, Seto kept wondering how he could obtain a Seal of Orichalcos card. He knew it wasn't sold in any game shops and that Industrial Illusions didn't produce any copies of that card. He could always contact Alister or Valon, but he had no idea how to get in touch with either one of them. And more than likely they had also probably ripped up their copies of the Orichalcos card as Rafael had done.

Then another idea occurred to him. He could always go back to the spot where he and the Pharaoh had dueled against Dartz. All of the cards that Dartz had used would presumably be in that spot.

However, there were a few problems. First he would have to figure out exactly where he had dueled Dartz. They had dueled against him in his temple that came out from somewhere in the ocean, but where in the ocean?

Secondly, the place where that duel had taken place was probably at the bottom of the ocean. And the tides could've easily scattered the cards all over the ocean floor.

Finding the card would be nearly impossible. But Seto was determined not to give up. He remembered that the computer on his helicopter had a history of places it had been to as far back as 5 years. All he had to do was remember the day Roland had flown the helicopter to Dartz's lair. For Seto, this wasn't too hard because he remembered it was at a time when Dartz was buying shares of his company.

Seto walked over to the hangar where the helicopter was kept and turned on the computer. He looked at the history of places the helicopter had been to and scrolled down to the appropriate date. There he saw the coordinates of his destination.

_Excellent. Tomorrow I'll have Roland take us to that exact location in our submarine. _

And sure enough that was the very first thing Seto mentioned to Roland the next morning. Roland didn't really see the point in making such a journey just to obtain a card. But since it was his job, he agreed to take both him and Mokuba to that spot. Seto then walked over to his younger brother, Mokuba.

"Mokuba, guess what?"

"What's up, big brother?"

"Today, you and I are going on a trip out in the ocean."

"Oh, boy! That sounds like fun. What are we gonna do out there?"

"We're going to look for the place where the Pharaoh and I both dueled Dartz. Then we're going to see if we can find that Seal of Orichalcos card."

Now Mokuba remembered very well that the Orichalcos card was evil, but since the Great Leviathan had been defeated, he didn't immediately think there would be a problem. At the moment he was just excited about having an adventure.

Later that day, Mokuba, Seto, and Roland all hopped in the submarine. Mokuba was busy jumping up and down, excited about their little adventure.

As Roland was driving the submarine, Seto was concerned about getting to his destination, while Mokuba was enjoying the scenery in the ocean.

"Look, Seto! A starfish!"

Of course, Seto didn't care at all for the starfish spotted by Mokuba.

"Sir, we're getting close to the coordinates," Roland informed Seto.

"Good. Descend the submarine closer to the bottom."

Roland did as Seto asked. But as he got closer to the ocean floor, he raised a concern.

"Uh sir, I don't think we should bring the submarine any lower than it already is. The submarine wasn't built to withstand this kind of pressure."

"Don't stop, now! We didn't come all the way this far just to turn back."

"But sir, the water pressure is too great at this depth. We have to turn back now," protested Roland.

"Just keep going," ordered Seto.

As they got closer to the bottom of the ocean floor, they saw what appeared to be the ruins of an ancient city, presumably Atlantis. Not far from the city, there was a temple on top of a large mound. The doorway to the temple seemed like it would be big enough for the submarine to pass through.

"We're here!" shouted Seto relieved that they had finally reached their destination. "Roland, head toward that doorway. We're going in."

"Yes, sir."

Roland directed the submarine closer to the entrance of the temple. And surely enough, the entrance of the temple was big enough for the submarine to squeeze through but just barely. When they were driving through the entrance, Seto immediately recognized his surroundings. He saw pillars with stone snakes wrapped around them. At the end of the hall he saw a pair of eyes and three stone snake bodies descending down the walls with their heads on top of an altar and their mouths wide open. There were stairs leading up to the altar.

"I recognize these surroundings. This is the same temple where the Pharaoh and I dueled against Dartz," Seto told Mokuba.

Roland drove the submarine around the temple a little more. They came across a small doorway that led to another room.

"I recognize that room!" cried Seto pointing toward the doorway. "That's the room where the Pharaoh and I both dueled Dartz. But the doorway is too small for our submarine to pass through. Roland, I want you to drive the submarine up to see if there is any part of the temple where the waters have not penetrated."

"Yes, sir."

Roland steered the submarine in the upward direction, and surely enough he did in fact reach a point where the waters had not penetrated. However, it was fairly close to the ceiling.

"Roland, keep the submarine right here. I'll be right back."

Seto walked up the ladder and opened the lid of the submarine.

"Big brother, where are you going?" asked Mokuba.

"Since our submarine is too big to pass through that doorway, the only way to get inside is by swimming down there."

"Well okay," Mokuba said not really sure that his brother's plan was such a good idea. "Just be careful down there."

"I will."

Seto dove into the water. When he dove into the cold water, at first he couldn't see a thing. Then he saw that he was by one of those pillars with a long snake going down it. Seto swam closer to the floor of the temple and saw the doorway. He swam through the doorway and saw that the walls were filled with blank tablets, the same tablets that were used as spots for captured souls. He scanned the floor of the room and saw a duel disk and cards scattered all over the room. Some cards were in the middle of the room; some were in a corner; and some were in a completely different corner.

_Those must be the cards that Dartz used against us. And that must be his duel disk. _

Meanwhile back up by the submarine, Mokuba was sitting on the outside waiting for his brother to come back to the surface.

_Big_ _brother,_ _I_ _hope_ _you__'__re_ _okay_ Mokuba prayed silently to himself. But just at that moment Mokuba saw a shark fin emerge from the water. Mokuba immediately ran toward Roland.

"ROLAND! HELP! HELP! Seto just dove into the water, and I think I just saw a shark."

But Roland couldn't think of any way to help his boss Seto Kaiba, who was seemingly doomed.

Seto swam closer to the cards that were in the center of the room. He picked up the first one and read it.

_Twin-Bow Centaur. No, that's not the card I'm looking for._

Then he picked up another one.

_Orichalcos Gigas. No, that's not it either. _

He picked up a third card hoping it would be the one.

_No._ _This_ _is_ _Orichalcos_ _Mirror._

He rummaged through all the cards in the center but couldn't find what he was looking for. He was about to swim to the pile of cards in the corner, but then he realized something; he was running out of oxygen so he had to swim back up to the pocket of air. But just as he was about to swim back to the submarine, he looked up he saw something that frightened him. There were six sharks circling him. Seto was certain that he was about to die.

_Why_ _did_ _I_ _have_ _to_ _be_ _such_ _an_ _idiot_ _and_ _come_ _down_ _here!_

Seto was in such a state of fright that he passed out. One of the sharks swam closer to Seto's passed out body.

_No_ thought the evil spirit from the end of the last chapter. _If_ _he_ _dies_ _in_ _the_ _ocean_ _I_ _will_ _no_ _longer_ _have_ _a_ _host_ _body,_ _and_ _I_ _won__'__t_ _be_ _able_ _to_ _exist._ _I_ _have_ _to_ _do_ _something_ _now._

And of course, the evil spirit was able to do something. The spirit didn't know exactly where in that pile of cards the Orichalcos card was, but since it was physically close to the card, it was able to use the evil power from that card to make its presence known to the sharks that surrounded Kaiba.

Suddenly, the image of what appeared to be a demon formed in the ocean waters. The sharks immediately stopped coming closer to Kaiba when they saw the ghastly figure. Then the demon let out a loud laugh and shot its face forward, scaring away all the sharks. After all the sharks had gone away, the giant face transformed into a more human-like but still grotesque monster.

_Now to find that Orichalcos card. _

The spirit sensed that the card was in one of the corners of the room and walked over toward it.

_Ahh!_ _Here_ _it_ _is._

Then the evil spirit grabbed the card, slipped it into Kaiba's pocket and dragged him back up to the submarine. Then the evil spirit got smaller and disappeared into Kaiba's mouth.

Roland and Mokuba found Seto clinging to the submarine unconscious. They dragged him back inside, and Roland started driving the submarine out of the temple and back to the surface.

"Big brother, are you all right?" asked Mokuba, shaking his unconscious brother. Suddenly, Seto woke up.

"What the...where am I?"

"You're back on the submarine with me and Roland."

Seto noticed something in his pocket. It was the Seal of Orichalcos card.

"What the…how did this get in my pocket?"

"Don't you remember, big brother? You had Roland take us all the way down here because you wanted to get your hands on one of those cards. Then when we reached a pocket of air you got out of the submarine and dove into the water. I was so worried because after you dove in I saw a shark fin. I thought you'd never come out alive. But thank goodness you're alright."

"That's strange, actually. I remember after I dove into the water I saw a pile of cards lying on the temple floor. I was looking for the Seal of Orichalcos, but I couldn't find it. Then I realized I was surrounded by several sharks. I remember passing out due to fear. That's all I remember. How I got back up to the surface is a mystery to me."

"Well the important thing is you're safe now," said Mokuba hugging his bigger brother.

Soon the submarine reached the surface of the water, and they were back on their way home.

_I'm ready for you, Yugi. Thanks to the new cards in my deck I finally have what it takes to defeat you and reclaim my world championship status._

**I'd like to know something. Who do you guys think this evil spirit is that is lurking inside Kaiba? Take your guesses.**


	7. Drama Before the Rematch

**Drama Before the Rematch**

**Author's note: I had to make another correction to chapter 5 because of an error with Burst Stream of Destruction. **

**There was something else I realized. I'm not sure if the three Egyptian God cards were buried in the temple after Yugi and the Pharaoh had their ritual duel. For the sake of this story, I'm assuming that Yugi escaped the cavern with the three God cards. **

Soon the submarine reached land, and they were all ready to head back to KaibaCorp Headquarters.

"So big brother, how do you plan to take down Yugi?" Mokuba asked as they were getting out of the submarine.

"Well, I still haven't yet figured out a way to counter his Egyptian Gods. But thanks to the new cards I have, I think I can throw some new strategies at him."

"You mean the Seal of Orichalcos, right?"

"That and the two I forced Rafael to give me."

"You…forced him to give them to you."

"Yes. You see, at first that fool didn't want to duel at the risk of losing his monsters. But then I forced him to duel by threatening to put him out of business. I purchased 51% of the company that makes the motorcycles he sells and then threatened to stop the production of the motorcycle parts."

Mokuba was surprised. He knew that Seto had dueled Rafael and had gotten two cards from that duel. What he did not know was that Rafael had not willingly agreed to such a duel.

SOMEWHERE IN THE DOMINO PARK

Meanwhile, Yugi and Joey were sitting on a bench in a park. They had just thrown the Frisbee around for a little while and were now taking a break. Yugi had a worried expression on his face. He was thinking about what Bakura had said at Burger World when they were discussing possible strategies that Yugi could use.

_But Yugi should be careful. If he has Slifer on the field, Kaiba will probably use the same trick that Yugi used to make Slifer's special ability backfire._

Joey looked over at his friend Yugi and could tell something was wrong. "What's the matter, Yug?"

"I'm just wondering, what if Kaiba's right?"

"Right about what?"

"I mean what if he was right in saying that I could only beat him with the Pharaoh? Seto, on the other hand, never had anyone else guiding him through his duels. Maybe he is the better duelist."

"Nah, Yug. You can't talk like that. I mean sure he is a great duelist, but you're the one who figured out how to beat all three Egyptian Gods."

"True, but now Kaiba knows how to beat all three Egyptian Gods from witnessing that duel. Maybe I should just take Slifer out of my deck so he can't use the same trick I used."

"What? Are you crazy? You can't talk like that. I mean sure, Slifer has its weaknesses, but it's also one of the most powerful creatures in Duel Monsters. Besides, you're the best player I know. If he tries that same trick you used, then you can always find a way to counter it."

"You know, Joey? You're right. If he does try to make Slifer's special ability backfire, I can find a way to counter it. Thanks, buddy."

"Sure, no problem. It's like you always tell me. Every duelist shares a bond with the monsters he carries. Therefore you should respect each and every card you have. And you, my friend, have a powerful bond with this card," Joey said pointing to Yugi's Slifer card.

"You're right, Joey. I do have a bond with my Sky Dragon. Just like I have a bond with my Dark Magician and my Kuriboh. Therefore it's important for me to respect it just like I would any other monster by putting it in my deck."

"And don't forget about all those strategies we discussed at Burger World."

"Oh, you mean all those strategies that Rebecca came up with while you were busy stuffing yourself with French fries?" teased Yugi.

"Yeah, those strategies," Joey chuckled.

BACK AT KAIBACORP

When Mokuba went to bed that night he had a nightmare. In his nightmare he saw Seto and Yugi engaged in a duel. Both were at a full 4000 life points. On the field Yugi had Valkyrion the Magna Warrior while Seto had a Blue-Eyes White Dragon. There were swords beaming bright lights scattered all around Seto's Blue-Eyes White Dragon. It was Seto's turn.

As Seto drew his next card he laughed out loud. "Your Magna Warrior may be more powerful than my Blue-Eyes White Dragon right now, but that's about to change. Now I play the Seal of Orichalcos."

As Seto activated the Seal the strength of his Blue-Eyes White Dragon rose to 3500, equaling the strength of Yugi's Magna Warrior.

"My Blue-Eyes may not be able to attack this turn because of your Swords of Revealing Light, but since this was the last turn they were in effect, he'll be free to annihilate your Magna Warrior on my next turn."

But then Yugi drew his next card and smirked. "You may have the power of the Orichalcos, but I have something even greater…the power of the Egyptian Gods."

Seto's eyes widened in fear. "Don't tell me…"

"That's right, Kaiba. The card I drew was the Winged Dragon of Ra."

Seto gulped. "That's the most powerful of the three Egyptian Gods."

"That's right, Kaiba. Now watch as I separate my Valkyrion into the three Magnet Warriors." Valkyrion then separated into Alpha the Magnet Warrior (ATK 1400, DEF 1700), Beta the Magnet Warrior (ATK 1700, DEF 1600), and Gamma the Magnet Warrior (ATK 1500, DEF 1800).

"Next I sacrifice Alpha, Beta, and Gamma to summon the Winged Dragon of Ra." As the three Magnet Warriors disappeared, a round golden ball appeared to be hovering in the sky. Then the ball opened up revealing a massive golden dragon with a blue jewel in its forehead.

"The attack points of my Winged Dragon of Ra are determined by the sum of the attack points of the monsters I sacrificed to summon it. So my Winged Dragon of Ra has 4600 attack points."

"But that makes it more powerful than my Blue-Eyes White Dragon."

"Next, I can activate the special ability of my Egyptian God. By paying 1000 life points I can have it automatically destroy one monster on my opponent's side of the field. And since you only have one monster I'll have it incinerate your Blue-Eyes White Dragon."

Yugi's life points dropped to 3000 while the Blue-Eyes White Dragon was fried to a crisp.

"Now your life points are wide open. Winged Dragon of Ra, attack his life points directly." The Winged Dragon of Ra attacked Seto directly bringing him down to 0. The Seal then encircled Seto.

Mokuba then ran up to Seto, but he was lying lifelessly on the ground.

"Big brother…please…wake up." Mokuba shook Seto some more hoping he would wake up, but it was no use. "BIG BROTHER! WAKE UP!"

Suddenly Mokuba jerked upward, awaking from his bad dream. It was true that Mokuba hadn't initially been concerned about the powers of the Orichalcos card since the Great Leviathan was no more. But now that the rematch was coming up, he became more concerned. It was two days before the tournament. Mokuba decided that now was the time to raise his concern to Seto.

Mokuba approached Seto's office that morning to tell him why he was worried.

_Hmm… What cards can I use that will counter the Egyptian Gods? I can use that Magnet Force trap card that Yugi used to make Slifer's special ability backfire. I just need to make sure I have a rock or machine-type monster on the field for it to work. My X-Head Cannon, Y-Dragon Head, and Z-Metal Tank should do the trick. _

Then Seto heard a knock at his door.

"Big brother?" he heard Mokuba from outside.

"Yes, Mokuba. Come on in."

Mokuba came inside. "I wanted to ask you something about the Orichalcos card."

"Oh, you mean the card that will lead to Yugi's downfall because it gives my monsters a 500 point boost and doubles the number of monsters I'm allowed to have on the field?"

"Well yes, the Seal of Orichalcos is a rare and powerful card. But aren't you worried about that other thing it does?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, you know, its ability to capture souls. If you play it, aren't you worried that your soul or Yugi's might be sealed away for all eternity?"

Seto sighed. "Mokuba, you should know by now that I don't believe in the whole soul-being-taken-away crap. How many times do I have to repeat myself?"

"But how can you say that? After all the things we've been through. Remember when Pegasus captured both our souls with the Millennium Eye? And what about the time when Alister played the Seal of Orichalcos? Don't you remember I tried to come through, but the Seal created a wall that blocked me."

"So what? Those were just cheap tricks."

"But what about that time you played the Pyramid of Light trap card and that guy Anubis took over the duel for you? And what about that time Ishizu was able to read the cards in your hand with her Millennium Necklace."

Seto became extremely angry at Mokuba for not getting the point. "That's enough, Mokuba! I have to concentrate so I can figure out a way to take down Yugi's Egyptian Gods. You've wasted enough of my time already. Now get out! And don't mention anything to me about that hocus-pocus magic stuff ever again."

Mokuba left feeling a little hurt by his brother bluntly telling him to get out, but he was still determined to look out for his older brother.

_I know that we defeated the Great Leviathan and that Seto doesn't believe in all that magical stuff. But I just can't help feeling that the card is somehow still dangerous. I have to contact Pegasus. Maybe if he hears it from someone else he'll listen. _

Mokuba walked over to where Roland was.

"Roland?"

"Yes, Mokuba."

"I need to contact Industrial Illusions right away. It's an emergency."

Roland allowed Mokuba to use his web cam to contact Industrial Illusions. He saw the image of a woman on the computer. It was Pegasus's secretary.

"Yes, can I help you?" asked the woman.

"I need to speak to Pegasus right away. Tell him it's Mokuba."

"Okay I'm transferring you right now."

Meanwhile Seto was still sitting at his desk concentrating on ways to counter Yugi's Egyptian Gods.

_But what if Yugi doesn't summon Slifer the Sky Dragon? What if he instead just summons Obelisk or Ra? I still have to figure out how I'm going to stop those other two Egyptian Gods. He could summon one or both of them without summoning Slifer which would make the Magnet Force card useless. I wonder if I should use my Lullaby of Obedience card to take one of the Egyptian Gods. No. I remember when I faced Yugi in Battle City and used that to take Slifer he had Card Exchange facedown. So if I do that, and he has Card Exchange facedown, I'd be playing right into his hands. So I won't use Lullaby of Obedience. _

Now back in Roland's office Mokuba had just gotten in touch with Pegasus.

"Hello, Mokuba. What can I do for you today? Is it about your brother's upcoming rematch with Yugi Muto? I hope you're not trying to get any new cards from me at the last minute just to help your big brother trounce little Yugi."

"Well it is about the rematch. You see my brother is planning on using a certain card that I think could be dangerous."

"Well which card is it?" asked Pegasus.

"The Seal of Orichalcos."

Pegasus gasped. "The Seal of Orichalcos? But how is that possible? I thought all copies of that card were destroyed. Where did he get such a card?"

"Well you see we found it by going back to the place where Seto and the Pharaoh dueled against Dartz."

"What? But that makes no sense. That place is all the way at the bottom of the ocean."

"Well we took a submarine down to the temple. There was a section of the temple where the waters hadn't penetrated so Seto got out of the submarine and swum down there to get it."

"Oh, that Kaiba-boy. He'll do anything to get a really powerful card even if it means risking his own life."

"I'm just worried that someone will lose his soul. I mean I know the Great Leviathan is gone and all, but what if the card still has the power to capture someone's soul?"

"I suspect you might be right, Mokuba. I'm a little busy right now, but I'll try to contact your brother tomorrow for you."

"Thanks, Pegasus. I just hope he listens to you. See ya."

"Bye, Mokuba."

BACK AT GAMESHOP THAT SAME NIGHT

Yugi was sitting at his bed looking over his deck.

_Great! I have my Dark Magician, my Dark Magician Girl, my Egyptian Gods, my Kubioh, and all the other monsters that have helped me out. With my monsters and the strategies we discussed at Burger World, I'll be able to prove that I can defeat Kaiba without the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle. But what if Kaiba uses the same trap card I used to make Slifer's special ability backfire? No, I can't worry about that. I just have to listen to the advice Joey gave me in the park and trust in my deck as always. _

NEXT NIGHT AT KAIBACORP

It was the evening before the big rematch. Kaiba had studied all night last night and all day today, but he was pretty sure he had come up with a way to deal with the three Egyptian Gods.

_I may not be able to defeat them, but I do think I can prevent their summoning with certain magic and trap cards. Now I just need to figure out ways to counter his other monsters like his Kuriboh, his Dark Magician, and his Electromagnetic Turtle. What I should really focus on is figuring out how to counter his multiplying-Kuriboh strategy if he uses that. I remember that gave me problems back when I faced him in Duelist Kingdom. I can probably use a simple spell-canceling card like what Lumis and Umbra used. Boy, I really need to take a nap right now. I've been studying for twelve hours straight. So I need to rest first, and then I'll do a little more studying. _

He was about to catch himself a nap. Just at that moment his secretary appeared on the web cam.

"Sir, there's someone who needs to speak to you. A Mr. Maximillion Pegasus."

Kaiba couldn't stand that man. "Oh, great! Put him through."

Kaiba looked into the web cam and saw Pegasus. "Yeah, whaddya want?"

"Kaiba-boy, I know you have the Seal of Orichalcos. You mustn't play that card. It could be extremely dangerous."

"What? But how did you know I even had that card?"

"It matters not. Just make sure you don't use it in tomorrow's duel, okay?"

"Who told you I had that card?" he demanded to know.

"That person wishes to remain anonymous."

_I bet it was Mokuba._

"Look, Pegasus. I'm dueling the way I want to duel. And you'd better not contact Yugi to tell him what new cards I have, or I'll be really pissed off." Pegasus was about to say something, but then Seto turned off his web cam.

_I need to have a talk with Mokuba right now. He needs to learn his lesson for leaking out my little secret. _

"Mokuba Kaiba, get your ass in my office right now!" Seto yelled loudly.

Mokuba heard the loud call from Seto. When he came by, he saw Seto standing outside the door looking very pissed off.

"Ye…yes, big brother?" Mokuba said timidly.

"What did you tell Pegasus?" he demanded to know.

Mokuba merely looked down nervously. "I didn't tell him anything," he responded. However, Seto could clearly see he was lying.

"Then tell me this. How did Pegasus know that I have the Seal of Orichalcos magic card?"

"Beats me," he replied, still feeling nervous.

"When we got out of the submarine, the only people who knew that I had the card were you, me, and Roland. Somebody had to have leaked the information out to Pegasus. I know I didn't tell anybody, and I don't think it was Roland either. That leaves you. So stop lying to me right now."

"Well it's not like I did any harm by telling Pegasus," Mokuba said fighting back a little.

"Wrong!" Seto responded adamantly. "Thanks to your snitching, my entire strategy might be ruined. You told Pegasus, and that snake will probably tell Yugi what card I'm using."

"Well…it's just that I…I was worried about you using the card because of the danger it unleashed a few years ago."

"Mokuba, what does it take for me to penetrate that thick skull of yours? I'm not worried about any of that magic stuff. Plus it doesn't matter because we defeated the Great Leviathan so the Seal of Orichalcos isn't going to take away anyone's soul anyway."

"How do you know what's going to happen? No one's ever played that card since we beat the Great Leviathan."

"Look, Mokuba! I'm using this card. And that's final. You got that?"

Mokuba was fighting back some tears. Then Seto said something that really pushed Mokuba's berserker button. "Besides, if anyone's soul is on the line, it would be Yugi's soul, not mine."

As Seto said that last line it appeared that Mokuba was about to burst into tears. But instead Mokuba did something really unexpected.

"NOOOO!" yelled Mokuba at the top of his lungs. Mokuba furiously pushed over Seto's desk destroying his web cam. "YOU GODDAMN FUCKING ASSHOLE!" Mokuba was breathing heavily.

This action took Seto completely by surprise. "Mokuba, what do you think you're doing?"

"You know what? I'm tired of your attitude. All you care about is yourself and being number one."

"Excuse me? How dare you talk back to me after all I've done for you? I've always protected you."

"I don't care," said Mokuba. "You always do things to hurt others in order to be number one. You ripped up Grandpa Muto's Blue-Eyes White Dragon card. That card meant a lot to him. I rooted for you when Yugi dueled against you, but you were the one in the wrong. I don't like what you did to Rafael either. Threatening to put him out of business was really low."

Seto just stood there completely stunned.

"And how can you say something like you don't care if Yugi loses his soul after all he's done for us? He helped you rescue me from Pegasus in Duelist Kingdom. He helped us escape from the cyber world when the Big 5 trapped you in that virtual world. He helped you find me when Marik's Rare Hunters captured me. And don't forget the time he helped figure out how to get rid of that computer virus caused by the Gold Castle of Stromberg. Yugi and his friends have always been there to help us. And did you ever once thank them?"

Mokuba breathed deeply and then continued his rant.

"Tell me, big brother. When Tea was about to be killed by those Rare Hunters, did you rescue her because it was the right thing to do or because you felt obligated to?"

Seto responded with complete silence.

"If she hadn't saved me from those Rare Hunters, would you have rescued her anyway, or would you have let her die? Answer me!"

But Seto did not answer. He just stared at Mokuba with complete silence.

"And what about when we left the Battle City finals in the Blue-Eyes White chopper? Didn't you think about whether or not the others had any way of getting off the island safely?"

Seto did not answer Mokuba because he knew his little brother was right about everything. He didn't give a rat's ass about Yugi or any of his friends. If Tea hadn't saved Mokuba he would've never done anything to prevent Marik's Rare Hunters from killing her. And when he blew up the old KaibaCorp location, he was only concerned about whether he and Mokuba would make it safely off the island, no one else. He was not at all concerned about the safety of Yugi's gang or even his own faithful employees like Roland. When it came to Yugi's friends and his own employees, worrying over their safety was just a waste of his valuable time.

"You know what?" said Mokuba. "I'm gonna cheer for Yugi tomorrow. I want you to lose." Then Mokuba stormed out of Seto's office.

Mokuba's harsh words may not have caused Seto to shed a tear, but he felt something very painfully emotional that he had not experienced since the death of his biological parents.

Seto picked up the desk that Mokuba had pushed over and looked at the smashed-up web cam. He opened up one of the drawers and pulled out a picture of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, the one Mokuba had drawn for him when they were little kids. His face hardened when he looked at it. Seto gazed at it for a while and then tore it to shreds.


	8. Time for the Rematch

**Time for the Rematch**

When Seto woke up the next morning, his mind was not on how he would reclaim his world championship status. Nor was he thinking of ways to stop the Egyptian Gods and all the other monsters Yugi had in his deck. It was on the fight he had with Mokuba the previous night. He had not seen Mokuba since he had woken up this morning.

"Good morning, Seto," his faithful employee Roland greeted him.

"Good morning, Roland. Remember the rematch starts at 5:00 in the evening today, and we start letting people in by 2:30. I want us to leave by 1:00 so we can get there on time and account for all that traffic."

"Yes, sir. By the way, Mokuba left on his bike a while ago. He didn't say where he was going."

"Hmph!" Seto muttered not really caring where his brother was. If anything he was kind of glad he wasn't there at the time. It would have been too awkward for him to deal with being around Mokuba after what took place last night.

The parking lot at the Kaiba Dome was jammed. Luckily Seto Kaiba had a couple of spots reserved specifically for Yugi's friends because he wanted his friends to see Yugi get humiliated. They had traveled in two cars. Mai had taken Tea, Joey, and Serenity in her car. Duke Devlin had taken Bakura, Tristan, and Rebecca in his car. While they were walking toward the gate they saw an argument take place.

"Hey, that was my spot you jackass!" yelled an angry driver.

"Ya snooze, ya lose, sucker!" the other driver retorted back.

"Geez. I'm glad Kaiba reserved parking spots us," said Tea. "I'd certainly hate to be in the same position as that unlucky driver."

"He also reserved seats in the front row for us," added Duke. "It's a good thing too because I wasn't expecting it to be this crowded."

Indeed the Kaiba Dome was packed. There were at least 20 concession stands. Each one had a jam-packed line.

"Hey guys," they all heard a friendly voice say.

"Look, everyone. It's Mokuba," said Bakura.

"Are you guys ready for an exciting duel?" asked Mokuba.

"We sure are. Our pal Yug is gonna cream your brother," said Joey.

"Well that's what I'm hoping for," Mokuba answered. Everyone was perplexed by Mokuba's comments.

"Say what?" asked Joey.

"You heard me right," answered Mokuba. "I'm tired of rooting for that big jerk."

"But why?" asked Joey. "I thought you always rooted for your older brother."

"I do. But then I realized I'm tired of the way he treats everybody else."

"Well I still don't understand, but whatever. We're glad you're on our side. Now I'm hungry. Who wants to come with me to get something to eat?" asked Joey.

"I'll come with you," said Tristan who was also hungry.

There was a little kid who wanted a hot dog with chili from the concession stand. "Mommy, mommy. Can I have a hot dog, please? They're only $2.00."

"Well alright, son." The woman then gave her order to the cashier, who was a chubby woman, at the concession stand.

"Hey, Frankie?" yelled the cashier who had taken her order. "One hot dog with chili."

Frankie made the hot dog for the little boy. Now it should be noted that Frankie had a tendency to sweat a lot more than a person normally would. And since Frankie was around hot equipment all day, he was unusually sweaty. After putting the hot dog on the bun, a good amount of Frankie's sweat dripped onto the hot dog itself. Frankie never saw his own sweat drip onto the hot dog because he put the chili on it right away. And since Frankie never saw his sweat fall on the hot dog, he served it to the kid.

"Here you go," the cashier said handing the little boy his hot dog as the mother gave the cashier the money.

The little boy was so hungry he took a large bite out of his hot dog right away and swallowed it.

"Mmmm. That's a good hot dog," said the little boy after he had quickly gobbled up the rest of it. "Thanks, mommy." But just at that moment, the little boy felt his stomach churn. He clutched his stomach hard.

"What's wrong, honey?" his mother asked.

Before the little boy could respond, he sprinted over to the nearest trash can. A large stream of barf poured out of the boy's mouth. He could see his entire hot dog and everything else he had eaten earlier in the day at the bottom of the trash can.

"Mmmm," said Joey liking the aroma of the greasy food. "We can get hot dogs, pizzas, and burgers." Then Joey saw that Seto was walking past one of the concession stands. Joey hated Seto with a passion because he always talked down to him about his dueling skills. And so, since he knew Mokuba was going to cheer for Yugi, he thought this would be the perfect time to get back at him by rubbing it in his face.

"Yoo hoo! How's it goin', rich boy?" teased Joey.

"Hmph," Kaiba responded.

"Guess what I found out, Kaiba?" Joey was walking alongside Kaiba while Kaiba was trying his best to ignore him.

"Please tell me. I'm dying to know." Seto responded nonchalantly.

"Mokuba's rooting for Yug. What happened? Y'all got into a fight last night?" teased Joey.

Then Seto stopped dead in his tracks. Joey's last comment had struck a nerve. "Maybe you should mind your own business."

But Joey was having too much fun messing with Kaiba. "What's the matter, Kaiba? Are you afraid you're gonna lose because you lost your one-and-only fan?"

This made Seto furious. "Hey Wheeler, ya see that ridiculously long line over there?" Seto then pointed to a line that was noticeably longer than any of the lines at the concession stands.

"What about it?" asked Joey.

"Those people are waiting patiently in line to get my autograph. So you see Joey? Even if I don't have Mokuba rooting for me, I still have plenty of fans. And I don't think my fans like to be kept waiting. So stop wasting my time and theirs. Besides, I don't think you're in any position to be making fun of someone with no fans."

Joey clenched his fists. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're a second-rate chump and that no one knows who you are. At least people know who I am."

"What! I'm Jumpin' Joey Wheeler. Runner-up at Duelist Kingdom and Battle City finalist. Everyone knows who I am, and I'll prove it right now."

"This should be amusing," Kaiba said to himself.

"Who wants my autograph?" Joey yelled at the top of his lungs to everyone at the concession stand closest to them.

Everyone just stared at him like he was crazy. "Uh, are we supposed to know you?" asked one person from the concession stand?"

"Well I have to go start signing autographs before the match starts. But I enjoyed watching you embarrass yourself. And don't worry, Joey. Even though I know beating Yugi without the Pharaoh will be a piece of cake, I still expect him to give me more of a challenge than you ever could. Even when I dueled you in Battle City, I was barely trying and I still won. See you dorks later."

Joey couldn't help it. Kaiba's comment really got to him.

"I'll show him," Joey said to Tristan.

"What exactly do you plan to do?" asked Tristan.

"I'm gonna teach him a lesson the Joey Wheeler style."

When Seto was a good distance away from them, Joey started running toward him, picking up his speed as he got closer. Then when Joey got even closer, he picked up his right arm, getting ready to deliver a blow to the back of Kaiba's head.

"Hey rich boy! Take this!"

Seto overheard Joey and quickly responded by jabbing his elbow into Joey's stomach hard.

"OW!" Joey held his stomach in pain.

Seto then picked up Joey while he was still recovering from the pain. He walked over toward a trash can, the same one that the hot dog kid had thrown up in.

"Next time, Wheeler, don't give away your plan, you idiot." Seto then tossed Joey into the trash can.

Meanwhile, Tristan came running along and peered inside the trash can that Seto had tossed Joey into.

"Oh, man. I think I just landed in something really nasty. The entire back of my jacket feels wet. Help me out, will ya?"

But instead of helping Joey out, Tristan started laughing his ass off at how Joey had made a fool of himself. "Hey Joey, way to teach rich boy a lesson."

"I'll help ya out," Joey heard a very deep voice say. Then Joey felt a strong pair of arms lift him out of the trash can.

"Hey thanks, man," Joey said to the man who had pulled him out of the trash can. Then when Joey saw the man's face, he immediately recognized who it was. "Wait! I know you. You're one of those Orichalcos guys."

"The name's Rafael."

"What are you doin' here?" asked Joey.

"Seto Kaiba has two of my best cards, my Guardian Eatos card and my Celestial Sword card. So I'm here to get them back."

"Quick, Joey. We have to hurry up and tell Yugi about the two new cards that Kaiba has in his deck," said Tristan.

Joey held his hands up. "No, Tristan."

"What? But why not?"

"It was a lesson he taught me back in Battle City. You see this Rare Hunter took my Red-Eyes Black Dragon card from me using an Exodia strategy. So Yugi challenged him to a duel to win back my Red-Eyes. I wanted to tell Yugi what the Rare Hunter's strategy was, but he insisted that I keep his strategy a secret. And then Yugi figured out what his strategy was without me telling him and defeated him. You see, Yugi taught me that it would be wrong to give away someone's strategy. Besides, I have an even better idea."

"What's that?" asked Tristan.

"We'll get Kaiba where it hurts, in dueling. I'll give Yugi some cards of my own. So Kaiba won't be prepared for Yugi's strategies either."

"That is a good idea," said Tristan.

"Yep. And when Yugi uses the cards I give him to beat Kaiba, I'll rub it in his face and let him know that no one messes with Joey Wheeler. It'll be sweet revenge for him insulting me for having no fans and throwing me into the trash can."

"Well okay. Although you were the one who started it by annoying him over the fact that Mokuba is rooting for Yugi," Tristan pointed out.

Then Joey saw Rafael walking away. "Hey, where are you going? Aren't you gonna come watch the match with us?"

"I'm going over to the side. That way, when the match is over, I can jump over the railing and take back the two cards Kaiba took from me by force." Rafael continued to walk away.

"Oh, by the way Joey, you might want to take off that jacket. It smells," said Tristan.

Joey looked at the back of his jacket and saw a brown stain on the back of it. "Ewww!" he said throwing it back in the trash can. "I've lost my appetite."

Joey and Tristan walked back to sit with the rest of the gang.

"Hey guys," said Tea. "What happened to you all? Where's your food?"

"You guys should've seen what happened. Joey got his butt kicked by Kaiba." Tristan still thought it was funny. "Kaiba insulted Joey. Then Joey got mad and tried to punch Kaiba in the back of the head. But then Kaiba jabbed Joey in the stomach and then threw him in a trash can."

"Oh, poor Joey. Are you all right?" asked Tea.

"Yeah, I'm okay I guess. I think I landed in something really gross when he threw me into that trash can. I had to get rid of my jacket." But Tea noticed that Joey's words seemed forced, and she was right. Deep down inside Joey was not all right. He was still fuming with rage over the way Kaiba had humiliated him.

_I'm gonna go teach rich boy a lesson right now._ Joey got out of his seat.

"Hey where ya goin' Joey?" Tea asked.

"I'm gonna go find Yugi. I have something I want to give him before the rematch starts."

"You do know that both Yugi and Kaiba are signing autographs right now, don't you?" Mai said. "I hope you're ready to wait in a long line."

"Aw geez!" complained Joey as he went off to find Yugi. Joey figured that the line for Yugi's autograph would be right by where Seto's line was. Joey found the Seto line which had gotten way longer than it was previously.

"Excuse me?" Joey said tapping a random man on the shoulders. "Where is the line for people who want Yugi's autograph?"

"Oh, that's all the way at the other end of the arena."

"Aw man. Well thanks." Joey dashed to the other side of the arena. When he came there he saw that Yugi's line was even longer. "Man, this is gonna take forever. Well at least I'll have time to figure out which cards I'm gonna give to Yug."

"You guys wanna know what else is strange?" said Tristan. "Right after Kaiba humiliated Joey, we ran into that Orichalcos guy that the Pharaoh dueled."

"You mean Rafael?" asked Rebecca.

Tristan nodded.

"Hey I think I see him way over there," said Rebecca. And surely enough Rafael was indeed standing by the railing very far away from the gang.

_I don't care who wins this match. As soon as this duel is done, I'm hopping the railing and taking back what's rightfully mine._

"I wonder what he's doing here," said Mai.

"Well apparently Seto has two of his best cards. He said he was gonna try and get them back after the duel was done."

"Okay, Yugi. There's one more person in line to get your autograph," said the bodyguard watching Yugi's line.

When Yugi looked up, he was pleasantly surprised to see that it was Joey. "Hey, Joey. You didn't have to stand in line. You know you can get an autograph from me anytime."

"Actually I wanted to give you these before your duel." Joey pulled out two cards from his deck and handed them to Yugi.

"You're giving me these? But why?"

"Hang on. I never said you could keep 'em. But I'll let you use them for this match. They can be really useful in a tight spot. I should know since these two cards have bailed me out of some really tough situations before."

"Joey…thank you."

"Sure thing, Yugi. You and I are pals, and pals help each other out. One more thing."

"What's that?"

"Go kick Kaiba's butt."

Yugi nodded and then took off for the dueling arena. When he got down there he saw Seto standing way on the other side with a look of determination on his face and Roland in the middle of the arena holding a microphone. Then Roland's voice traveled everywhere through the arena as he spoke into the microphone.

"Before we begin this match, the two opponents will shuffle each other's decks and exchange a few words." The audience gave a loud cheer. They were burning with excitement.

Seto was the first to exchange his words with Yugi. "Yugi, I'm here to prove one thing and one thing only. That without the Pharaoh to hold your hand, you couldn't possibly beat me in a game of Duel Monsters. And that I am the one who deserves the title King of Games, not you. "

"Kaiba, I may not have the Pharaoh to guide me through duels anymore, but that doesn't mean I'll be a pushover."

Yugi and Seto walked over to their respective dueling platforms.

"Time to duel!" they both yelled.

**What two cards do you think Joey gave to Yugi? Take your guesses. **


	9. Kaiba vs Yugi Part 1

**Kaiba vs Yugi Part 1**

**Author's note: I want to explain how I'm writing the duels. Firstly, I am using fusion monsters differently from the way they are used in yugiohwikia. In yugiohwikia, when you use Polymerization to fuse two or more monsters together, the monsters that were fused together go to the Graveyard to form a new monster. In my duels, the monsters simply get fused together without going to the Graveyard. For example, if you fuse together 3 Blue-Eyes White Dragons to form Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, the 3 Blue-Eyes White Dragons would go to the Graveyard if you followed yugiohwikia's rules. In my story, the 3 Blue-Eyes White Dragons would simply get fused together and not go to the Graveyard. This also goes for fusion monsters not formed with a Polymerization card such as Valkyrion the Magna Warrior. I'm not sure if this is a yugiohwikia rule or not, but I'm going with the Battle City rule that fusion monsters formed with a Polymerization card such as Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon can't attack on the turn their summoned while fusion monsters not formed with a Polymerization card such as Valkyrion can. **

**Secondly, I am using Guardian Eatos in a way that is completely different from the way it works on yugiohwikia. Read my author's note at the end of chapter 3 for a description on that.**

**Finally, there are some differences between the way certain cards work on the show and the way they work on yugiohwikia. I'll be going with the way they work on the show for the most part. If you point out something that might be wrong, I'll either try to fix the mistake or clarify how I'm using the card. **

"I'll go first," yelled Seto as he drew his first card. _Excellent! On my first turn I've drawn the Cursebreaker card. If he tries to multiply those annoying Kuribohs, I'll be ready for it. _

"For my first move, I'll summon my Blade Knight (ATK 1600, DEF 1000) in Attack Mode. Then I'll place this card facedown. That ends my turn."

Yugi drew his first card. "All right, Kaiba. For my first move I'll activate a magic card known as Gold Sarcophagus. Here's how it works. First I choose a card from my deck and place it into this ancient box."

A golden box descended from the sky and opened up allowing Yugi to place a card inside of the box.

"Then if you happen to activate that card, its effect is negated. Then I'll place a monster facedown. That ends my turn."

"That's all ya got? How sad. With that poor excuse for an opening move, I can tell it was the Pharaoh who had all the talent, not you. Now watch how it's done." Kaiba swiftly drew his next card.

"And now I summon my Spear Dragon (ATK 1900, DEF 0) in Attack Mode. Now Spear Dragon, attack his facedown monster with cyclone blast."

The Spear Dragon shot out a blast in the form of a typhoon. It obliterated Yugi's facedown monster which turned out to be his Gamma the Magnet Warrior (ATK 1500, DEF 1800).

"Now my Spear Dragon's special ability kicks in. You lose life points equal to the difference between my Spear Dragon's attack points and your monster's defense points." Yugi's life points dropped from 4000 to 3900. Then the dragon shifted into defense position because of its special ability.

"And now since you have no monsters on the field to protect you, you're wide open for a direct attack. Blade Knight, attack his life points directly." Blade Knight dashed forward and slashed his sword across Yugi's chest.

Yugi held his chest in pain as his life points dropped from 3900 to 2300. He was kneeling on the floor trying to recover from the attack. Kaiba's large lead made him really nervous.

"That's right, Yugi. Bow down in defeat like the loser you are. You already know that I am the superior duelist. Without your friend the Pharaoh, you're nothing."

Kaiba's taunting made Yugi start to doubt himself. _This is the first time I've faced Kaiba without the Pharaoh's help, and I've already let him take an early lead. Maybe I am weak._

"You do realize that if you don't make a move soon, you'll forfeit the match, right? Then again, I don't blame you since you are a pathetic duelist on your own."

But then Yugi heard a voice that boosted his confidence. "Yugi, don't give up. We believe in you."

He looked over to the audience and saw that it was his good friend Tea Gardner. When Tea saw Yugi look her way, she waved wildly at him.

"Don't let Kaiba's bullying get to you. You are a great duelist on your own. We saw you beat the evil Bakura without the Pharaoh's help. And we know your victory over the Pharaoh was no fluke. Now show Kaiba who's the man."

_Tea's right. I can defeat him. The game's not over until the last card is played._ Yugi rose to his feet and drew this next card.

_What's this?_ Seto became concerned when he saw Yugi's new look of determination.

"Kaiba, I have a card combination I need to get back in this game. First I play the magic card Polymerization fusing together my Curse of Dragon (ATK 2000, DEF 1500) and my Gaia the Fierce Knight (ATK 2300, DEF 2100) from my hand to form Gaia the Dragon Champion (ATK 2600, DEF 2100)."

A knight carrying two lances riding on the back of a yellow dragon appeared out of a swirling vortex. The audience cheered when they saw that Yugi had made it a more interesting duel.

"You may have the lead, but now I have the most powerful monster on the field. Lucky for you my monster can't attack this turn since it was a fusion monster. So I'll end my turn."

Kaiba drew his next card. "Now I summon Peten the Dark Clown (ATK 500, DEF 1200) in Defense Mode. Then I'll shift my Blade Knight into Defense Mode. That's all I can do for now."

Yugi drew his next card. "Alright my Dragon Champion. Attack his Spear Dragon." Gaia the Dragon Champion flew over to the Spear Dragon and pierced it with its lance.

"I'll end my turn by placing two cards facedown."

_I can't believe I let this little pipsqueak get the upper hand with that powerful monster. Now he's got me playing defense. _

Kaiba drew his next card, and then a smile appeared across his face. The card was Ring of Destruction.

_With this powerful trap card I've just drawn I should be able to wipe out his Dragon Champion._

"I'll place this card facedown and summon my Kaiser Sea Horse (ATK 1700, DEF 1650) in Defense Mode. That ends my turn."

"My move," said Yugi. "I'll start this turn by playing the magic card Anti-Magic Arrows."

"What's this?" cried Seto as arrows fell from the sky piercing Seto's two facedown cards.

"Here's how it works," explained Yugi. "You're facedown cards are useless until my turn is over. So I'll be free to wipe out your defenses. Now my Dragon Champion, attack his Blade Knight."

The Dragon Champion flew over to the other side and annihilated Seto's Blade Knight.

"But that's not all. Now I play the magic card De-Fusion bringing back my Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight and my Curse of Dragon."

The knight hopped off the back of the yellow dragon and onto a horse.

"That means I get to attack twice more. Gaia, attack his Peten the Dark Clown."

Gaia charged forward on his horse and demolished Peten the Dark Clown.

"When my Peten the Dark Clown is sent to the Graveyard, I'm allowed to remove him from play to Special Summon another one from my deck." And then another Dark Clown appeared in its place.

"Curse of Dragon it's your turn. Attack the Dark Clown that he just summoned."

The yellow dragon shot fire out of its mouth frying the newly summoned Peten the Dark Clown to a crisp.

"I'll remove that Peten the Dark Clown from play to summon my last Peten the Dark Clown," said Seto.

"That ends my turn," said Yugi.

The arrows on Seto's facedown cards disappeared.

_Now that those annoying arrows are gone, I can activate my Ring of Destruction trap card to destroy Yugi's Gaia. Since he only has 2300 life points left, I'd win the duel. _

"Come on, Yugi! Kick my brother's ass!" Seto heard Mokuba yell from the stands.

Seto drew his next card. It was one of his three Blue-Eyes White Dragons. Seeing this card and hearing his brother cheer against him brought back images of him tearing up the drawing Mokuba had given to him as a child.

"Yugi, you're gonna regret going after my Dark Clowns and not attacking my Kaiser Sea Horse."

"Huh?" asked Yugi.

"You see my Kaiser Sea Horse has a special ability. When I send him to the Graveyard, I'm allowed to summon a Light Attribute monster from my hand. So now I'll send my Kaiser Sea Horse to the Graveyard so that I can play my Blue-Eyes White Dragon (ATK 3000, DEF 2500)."

A large blue dragon emerged onto the field and let out a ferocious growl.

"Now I play my facedown trap card Ring of Destruction to destroy my own Blue-Eyes White Dragon. So each of us will lose 3000 life points."

"But Yugi doesn't have that many life points left," said a worried Tea.

"Now I still have 4000 life points which means I'll be fine. You, on the other hand, only have 2300 life points left. So only your life points will hit 0 which means I win."

The ring wrapped itself around the Blue-Eyes White Dragon and started spinning around it.

"Say goodbye to my useless Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"


	10. Kaiba vs Yugi Part 2

**Kaiba vs Yugi Part 2**

On the field Seto had one card facedown and his Ring of Destruction obliterating his own Blue-Eyes White Dragon. He also had Peten the Dark Clown in Defense Mode. Yugi meanwhile had his Gold Sarcophagus floating in the air, two facedown cards, and Gaia and Curse of Dragon in Attack Mode. Seto had an untouched 4000 life points while Yugi had 2300.

"Hahahahaha! Game over, Yugi!" Kaiba laughed maniacally thinking he had won the duel.

The ring continued to spin faster and faster around the Blue-Eyes White Dragon engulfing it in flames. The dragon cried out in terror as if wanting to be saved from its cruel master Seto Kaiba.

Then something uncanny happened. The ring suddenly stopped spinning around the dragon and shattered into a million pieces.

"What's going on?" asked Seto. "My trap card should've destroyed my dragon and caused both of us to lose 3000 life points."

Then Seto looked ahead and saw the Gold Sarcophagus lowering. Slowly the lid came off of the ancient box revealing the card Yugi had put in there at the beginning of the game.

"NOOOO!" Seto yelled so loudly that even someone walking outside of the stadium probably would've heard him. "You … couldn't have," he added in disbelief.

"The card I placed inside of the ancient box was Ring of Destruction, the same one you just played," explained Yugi. "So this duel is still on."

Yugi could hear everyone cheering on how he had negated Kaiba's Ring of Destruction.

"Oh yeah!" Joey and Tristan cheered.

The person Yugi could hear the loudest was Rebecca.

"Yay! I'm so awesome! I'm the one who came up with that strategy. It's a good thing Joey called me to come to Burger World that day, huh Tea?"

_Phew!_ Tea thought to herself, breathing a sigh of relief. _That was a close one. That brat Rebecca may be annoying, but at least she came up with an idea that saved Yugi._

"How did you come up with that strategy, Beck?" asked Duke Devlin.

"It's simple. You see what Kaiba did right there is one of the oldest tricks in the book. And my Yugi-poo told me about how he used his Gold Sarcophagus to beat the Pharaoh. So that's how I came up with that strategy. I'm such a genius."

_Rebecca's right_ thought Yugi. _If she hadn't discussed that strategy with me at Burger World I would have lost the duel. But I wonder what's up with Kaiba disrespecting his own monster. And why is Mokuba rooting against his own brother?_

_That's not fair_ Kaiba thought bitterly. _I should have already won. How could he have possibly known which card to put in there? _

Yugi looked at Seto who had his head hung down. "Kaiba, there's something I must ask you? Why did you just now call your most valued monster useless and try to destroy it like it meant nothing to you?"

"Yugi … I would do anything to defeat you even if it means disrespecting my own monsters. So don't lecture me on how I should treat my monsters."

"Fine. But know this. You can't win a duel by mistreating your cards."

"It's still my move, Yugi. You're Gold Sarcophagus may have stopped my Ring of Destruction from destroying my Blue-Eyes White Dragon, but I can still attack with it. Blue-Eyes, attack his Curse of Dragon right now."

The Blue-Eyes shot a burst of stream at the yellow dragon, but Yugi had other plans.

"Hold it right there. I activate my trap card Negate Attack." A portal opened up capturing the blast fired by Blue-Eyes. "That ends the battle phase. So it's my turn."

"Grrr … fine. Just go!"

"Don't mind if I do," said Yugi drawing his next card. "First I'll play my Card of Sanctity magic card so we each draw until we're both holding six cards." Both players replenished their hands. Yugi smirked when he saw what was in his hand. "Well I have some disappointing news for you. You may have the most powerful monster on the field right now, but that's about to change. Now I'll sacrifice my Curse of Dragon and Gaia to summon my Dark Magician (ATK 2500, DEF 2100) in Attack Mode."

A mage wearing purple robes appeared as Gaia and the yellow dragon disappeared.

"There's just one problem. Your monster has fewer attack points than my dragon."

"That's true, but I never said I was done. Now I'll activate the magic card Thousand Knives to skewer your dragon."

_Ugh! I was hoping to save this facedown card in case he tried to multiply those annoying Kuribohs, but I guess I have no choice but to use it up now._ "I don't think so, Yugi. I activate my facedown magic card Cursebreaker to deactivate your Thousand Knives."

"And I'll deactivate your Cursebreaker with my trap card Magic Jammer. Now by discarding one card from my hand, I can negate the effect of your magic card." Yugi quickly discarded his Underworld Circle card from his hand so his Magic Jammer would deactivate Cursebreaker. The Blue-Eyes White Dragon cried out in terror as the knives sliced and diced its body.

"Dark Magician, attack his Peten the Dark Clown with dark magic attack." The mage fired a blast from his staff obliterating Kaiba's last line of defense. "That ends my turn."

Kaiba drew his next card. _Hmmm. I don't have anything powerful enough to stand up to his Dark Magician. I only have one monster in my hand right now. All I can do for now is summon it to the field to protect my life points. _

"For this turn, I'll activate the magic card Cost Down, lowering the level of my Kaiser Glider (ATK 2400, DEF 2200) from 6 to 4 so I can summon it in Defense Mode without a sacrifice." And here Kaiba discarded his Card of Demise card so he could activate Cost Down. "Then I'll activate the magic card Spell Sanctuary. This allows us to choose any magic card from our deck and add it to our hands."

Seto and Yugi each chose a magic card from their decks.

"That's not all my Spell Sanctuary card does. It allows us to treat all Spell Cards as Quick-Play Spell Cards. I'll place one card facedown. That ends my turn."

Yugi drew his next card. "Now I'll summon my Koumori Dragon (ATK 1500, DEF 1200) in Attack Mode. Now I'll clear your line of Defense. Dark Magician, attack his Kaiser Glider."

The Dark Magician fired a blast from his scepter incinerating Kaiba's Kaiser Glider.

"Now my Koumori Dragon can attack your life points directly."

"I don't think so, Yugi. When my Kaiser Glider is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, its special ability allows me to send one monster on the field back to the owner's hand. So I'll send your Koumori Dragon back to your hand. So you can't touch my life points."

"Fine. I'll place this facedown and end my turn."

Seto drew his next card. _Hmmm. This monster may not have enough attack points to destroy his Dark Magician, but its special ability should do the trick._

"I'll place this monster facedown in Defense Mode and end my turn."

Yugi drew his next card. "Let's try this again. I'll summon my Koumori Dragon in Attack Mode again. Dark Magician, use your dark magic attack on his facedown monster."

The mage fired another blast that obliterated his facedown monster which was revealed to be Cyber Jar (ATK 900, DEF 900).

"My monsters special ability kicks in destroying all monsters on the field." The Cyber Jar sucked up the Koumori Dragon and the Dark Magician. "Now we both draw five cards from our deck and special summon any level 4 and below monsters among the five to the field. The other cards are added to our hands."

Seto looked at the five cards he had drawn. _Not bad. I've drawn the Mystical Elf, a Thunder Dragon, a Polymerization card, Card Guard, and my Shrink card._ Seto special summoned his Mystical Elf (ATK 800, DEF 2000) in facedown Defense Mode. He was forced to discard a card from his hand due to the hand-size limit so he chose to discard Card Guard.

Yugi grinned very happily when he saw the five cards he had picked up due to Cyber Jar's effect. He had drawn Alpha the Magnet Warrior, Beta the Magnet Warrior, Monster Reborn, Gazelle King of Mythical Beasts, and his Winged Dragon of Ra. He special summoned Alpha (ATK 1400, DEF 1700), Beta (ATK 1700, DEF 1600) and Gazelle (ATK 1500, DEF 1200) all in facedown Defense Mode. _As soon as my next turn comes, I'll sacrifice all three of my facedown monsters to summon my Egyptian God._

"I'll place this card facedown and end my turn."

When Seto drew his next card, he became worried about the anxious look on Yugi's face. "What is it you find so amusing?" Seto demanded to know.

"Oh, nothing," said Yugi not wanting to give away that he'd be ready to summon his Egyptian God on his next turn.

_He's up to something, but what? Could it have something to do with those three facedown monsters of his?_

"I'll discard this Thunder Dragon card from my hand so that I can pull two more from my deck. Then I'll play the magic card Polymerization fusing them together to form Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon (ATK 2800, DEF 2100) in Attack Mode." On the field stood a massive red dragon with two heads and a horn sticking out from each snout. "I'll place this card facedown. That should give you plenty to deal with."

"It won't be plenty for me to deal with for long. That may be an extremely powerful monster, but I'll be able to take it down easily with what I have in my hand."

_Uh oh! Could he be holding what I think he is?_

"Now I sacrifice…," Yugi began. Beams of light began to shoot up into the sky from Yugi's three facedown monsters.

_If he's about to do what I think he is I have to act now._

"Hold it right there, Yugi!" Seto yelled quickly before Yugi was able to sacrifice his three facedown monsters. "I activate my facedown card Confiscation." Seto's card flipped up revealing a man dressed in armor carrying a chest while a peasant clinged to his ankles.

**(Note: Even though Confiscation is a Normal Spell Card, he can play it on Yugi's turn since Spell Sanctuary allows him to treat it as a Quick-Play Spell Card.)**

"Huh?" asked Yugi wondering why his three facedown monsters were still on the field.

"Here's how it works. First I pay 1000 life points. Then I get to look at the cards in your hand and banish one of them to the Graveyard. So show me your hand."

Seto walked over to where Yugi was standing as his life points dropped to 3000. In his hand he held Celtic Guardian, Multiply, Black Luster Ritual, the Spellbinding Circle, Winged Dragon Guardian of the Fortress, and the Winged Dragon of Ra. Looking at that Multiply card brought back painful memories from Duelist Kingdom. But he knew which card he had to force Yugi to discard.

"All right, Yugi. I'll banish your Winged Dragon of Ra to the Graveyard." Seto walked back over to his position.

_Damn! He ruined my plan. But I have another trick up my sleeve_ thought Yugi. "I play my facedown magic card Monster Reborn to bring back Gamma the Magnet Warrior (ATK 1500, DEF 1800). Now I'll reveal two of my three facedown monsters, Alpha the Magnet Warrior and Beta the Magnet Warrior. You know what that means, right?"

"Oh no!"

"Now I'll combine Alpha, Beta, and Gamma to form Valkyrion the Magna Warrior (ATK 3500, DEF 3850) in Attack Mode. Now Valkyrion, attack his Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon."

Kaiba merely smirked. "You fool. I activate my facedown magic card Shrink so your Valkyrion will lose half of its attack points."

"And I'll counter your Shrink card with my facedown card Mirage Spell." Yugi's facedown card flipped up revealing what looked like a rainbow. "Whenever one of my monsters is about to lose attack points due to a card effect I can negate the effect and gain life points equal to the attack points that would have been lost. So thank you, Kaiba. Now I'll gain 1750 life points thanks to your Shrink card."

Valkyrion dashed forward and slayed the Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon with its sword bringing down Seto's life points by 700. Seto couldn't believe that Yugi had outsmarted him with that Mirage Spell magic card. Now Seto had 2300 life points while Yugi had 4050 life points.

"Oh yeah!" cheered Joey high fiving Tristan. "Yugi just put the moves on rich boy."

"Now Yugi has more life points than Kaiba does," added Tea.

When Kaiba drew his next card he let out an evil laugh. "Yugi, you may have gained the upper hand with that little Mirage Spell card of yours. But I've just drawn the card I need to tip the duel back in my favor. It's a card that gives my monsters a 500 point boost and doubles the number of monsters that I'm allowed to have on the field. I'm sure you've seen it before. Does this card look familiar?" Slowly Kaiba flipped his card around revealing it to be the card he had retrieved from the depths of the ocean.

Yugi's eyes widened in terror when he saw what Seto had in his hand. "No way! I thought all copies of that card had been destroyed."

"Not all copies," Kaiba replied.

"But where could you have possibly gotten that card?"

"I used my submarine to go all the way to the bottom of the ocean to find that temple where the Pharaoh and I dueled against Dartz. That's how I found it. I bet you're jealous because you didn't think of doing that, aren't you?"

"Kaiba, listen to me. You can't play that card. If you do, one of us might lose his soul."

Seto laughed at Yugi's comment. "You know my little brother tried to talk me out of using this card last night. Now I'll tell you the same thing I told him. You should realize by now that I don't believe in the whole soul-being-taken-away nonsense. Now prepare to lose." Seto began to slide the card in his field card magic slot.

"KAIBA! NO!" shouted Yugi now fearing what was about to happen.

"Too late, Yugi. Now I play the Seal of Orichalcos."

Green lasers shot around the floor of the playing field forming the Orichalcos symbol. Then a green-colored dome formed around both Yugi and Seto.

"Big brother," Mokuba whispered sadly.


	11. Kaiba vs Yugi Part 3

**Kaiba vs Yugi Part 3**

Yugi watched in fear as he saw the Orichalcos symbol shining brightly on Seto's forehead. The Orichalcos made Kaiba feel really powerful.

"Look what you've done. Now one of us might lose his soul."

"I'm not too worried. The power of the Orichalcos is on my side. There's nothing you can do to stop me." Seto quickly returned his attention to the cards he was holding. "Now I activate the magic card…GYAAA! My hands!" Kaiba cried out in terror.

Seto suddenly dropped all the cards he was holding when he noticed something was wrong with his hands. They were not the hands of a human but the hands of a demon, large and gray. He held his hands up for Yugi and the entire audience to see.

"Oh my God!" Yugi shouted out. Everyone in the entire audience gasped when they saw what was wrong with Seto's hand.

Then Kaiba's features began to alter completely. His body was becoming fatter, and his entire skin was becoming gray. His face was becoming puffed up. "Ugh! What's happening to me?" Kaiba morphed into a hideous monster with gray skin wearing a cloak. He now had large lips and purple hair on the back of his head and in the center of it like a mohawk.

"I'm back," the new creature announced merrily. "Remember me?"

Yugi gasped when he saw the new creature before him. "Oh my gosh! It's…_**You!**_" And indeed Yugi recognized the being that stood before him.

Rafael was still watching the duel from the sidelines. _I've never seen the Orichalcos card do that to someone._

"No way!" cried Joey.

"I don't believe it," said Mokuba.

Tea shivered in disgust. "Ewww! It's that hideous creature from Duelist Kingdom."

"Wait! You guys know who that is?" asked Mai. Remember that Mai, Serenity, Duke, Bakura, and Rebecca have never seen the creature from Duelist Kingdom.

"Well back in Duelist Kingdom Yugi was dueling against this impostor who looked like my brother. Then later we found out it was the evil half of my brother that Pegasus had brought back from the Shadow Realm."

"But I don't get it," said Joey. We saw the Pharaoh send that thing to the Shadow Realm."

"Well that I can't explain," said Mokuba.

"Explain yourself," Yugi demanded. "I distinctly remember the Pharaoh sending you back into the Shadow Realm after our duel in Duelist Kingdom. So how did you escape the Shadow Realm a second time?"

Ghost Kaiba merely laughed at Yugi's question. "It's simple. When we last dueled I told you I was Seto Kaiba's evil half. But what you don't know is that I am not really Seto's evil half but a being from the Shadow Realm that inhabits the souls of people whose hearts are filled with darkness. One day while roaming the Shadow Realm and examining mortal souls, I came across a young boy named Seto Kaiba whose heart was filled with darkness because of the way he was raised by his stepfather Gozaburo Kaiba."

Ghost Kaiba paused for a moment and then continued his story. "Did you really think the power of a Millennium Item would keep me locked away forever? It's true that your friend the Pharaoh sent me back into the Shadow Realm with his Millennium Puzzle, but I was able to easily find my way back into Seto Kaiba's soul because his heart was filled with darkness. You see as long as there is darkness inside of Kaiba's heart, I will always inhabit his body because that is where my power comes from. And when he played the Seal of Orichalcos card, it brought out his full darkness."

"No way," cried Yugi.

"It's all true," replied Ghost Kaiba. "I've already faced you once in Duelist Kingdom."

_Flashback to Duelist Kingdom_

On the field Ghost Kaiba, who was still disguised as the real Seto Kaiba, had a Blue-Eyes White Dragon in Attack Mode.

_I don't have any monsters that can withstand his Blue-Eyes White Dragon_ Yugi thought to himself. _This could be it. _

"This duel is over, Yugi," Ghost Kaiba said, thinking he had the duel in the bag. "I'm sure we'll be hearing the fat lady sing right after your turn. I still have Defense Paralysis active so whatever monster you pick won't be able to defend itself."

Yugi looked at the five cards in his hand. It seemed that Ghost Kaiba had him trapped in a corner. "I choose the Feral Imp (ATK 1300 , DEF 1400) in Attack Mode." On the field appeared a green creature crouched like a gargoyle with a horn on its head and wings.

"It's time, Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Attack!" Ghost Kaiba commanded.

Then light particles seemed to shoot out of the dragon, and it flashed like a tv with bad reception.

"What are you waiting for?" Ghost Kaiba yelled with frustration in his voice. "Attack!"

But the dragon just sat there and groaned. Then more light beams shot out of it, and it appeared that the dragon was melting.

"What's going on? My Blue-Eyes White Dragon."

The Blue-Eyes White Dragon seemed to be melting, but Ghost Kaiba seemed to gain control of his monster. A stream of white lightning seemed to be erupting from its mouth even though its image seemed to be flashing. "Now, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, time to obliterate them."

Suddenly, as the stream shot toward Yugi, he heard someone calling out to him. "Yugi."

"Huh? Kaiba?" The steam of lightning passed Yugi, but his Feral Imp still stood.

Then the dragon started to decay and then simply disappeared.

"This can't be!" Ghost Kaiba cried in disbelief. "Why? Why me?"

"Why? Because Kaiba's still alive. He stopped you."

"Silence," yelled Ghost Kaiba slamming his fists onto the dueling platform. "I am Kaiba."

"Enough! Your charade is over."

Ghost Kaiba groaned.

"Imposter! The real Seto Kaiba destroyed that monster. I know because I sensed him calling out to me when it happened. Now enough of your lies. We know you're not Kaiba. It's time for you to show us who you really are."

"I told you. I am Kaiba. Ha ha ha ha! Or at least I'm part of him. The darkest part." Suddenly, the impostor's features began to alter to resemble the creature that now stood before Yugi.

_End flashback to Duelist Kingdom_

"Of course, we both know I should have won that duel, but the real Seto Kaiba stopped my second Blue-Eyes from attacking. But now the real Seto Kaiba can't do anything to stop me so I can have my revenge for that loss. For when I beat you, your soul will be sealed away for all eternity."

"But we defeated the Great Leviathan," Yugi replied.

"Foolish boy," Ghost Kaiba quickly answered. "You really don't know how the Orichalcos works, do you? It's true that the Great Leviathan is gone, but the Seal still has the power to capture your soul."

"I believe it's still your move," said Yugi.

Ghost Kaiba picked up the cards that Seto had dropped. "I'll play the magic card Swords of Revealing Light." Three swords came falling from the sky around Yugi. "That ends my turn."

Yugi drew his next card. "I activate the magic card Black Luster Ritual. By sending two monsters from my hand, I can summon my Black Luster Soldier (ATK 3000, DEF 2500) in Attack Mode." Yugi quickly discarded Winged Dragon Guardian of the Fortress (ATK 1400, DEF 1200) and Celtic Guardian (ATK 1400, DEF 1200) from his hand. "That ends my turn."

Ghost Kaiba drew his next card. "I summon Vorse Raider (ATK 1900, DEF 1200) in Attack Mode." And here the Seal raised Vorse Raider's attack points to 2400. "Now Vorse Raider, attack his facedown monster." Vorse Raider charged forward and slammed his axe into Yugi's facedown card which was revealed to be Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts.

"None of my other monsters are strong enough to take on your Valkyrion or Black Luster Soldier so I'll end my turn."

Yugi swiftly drew his next card. It was the second turn he could not attack due to Swords of Revealing Light.

"I'll place two cards facedown and end my turn. Your move."

Ghost Kaiba drew his next card. "First I'll sacrifice my facedown Mystical Elf to summon Judge Man (ATK 2200, DEF 1500) in Attack Mode." The facedown monster flipped up and then quickly materialized only to be replaced by a warrior wielding a club. His attack swiftly shot up to 2700.

"Next I'll use the magic of Monster Reborn to bring back my Blue-Eyes White Dragon from the Graveyard." The blue dragon returned to the field ready to get some revenge. Thanks to the Seal, its attack rose to 3500, equaling the strength of Yugi's Valkyrion.

"I could use my dragon to attack your Valkyrion, but then they'd both be destroyed. Or I could use it to annihilate your soldier, but I'm pretty certain your two facedown cards are traps. So I'll just end my turn."

Yugi drew his next card. _Hmmm… This card won't help me out now. I still can't attack thanks to his Swords of Revealing Light. But once that is gone, I'll be able to spring my trap on his Blue-Eyes White Dragon and use my Valkyrion to send that thing back to the Graveyard. _"I end my turn without making a move."

Then the Swords of Revealing Light disappeard as Ghost Kaiba drew his next card and smirked when he saw what it was. "Now, Yugi, it's time for me to get rid of your Magna Warrior. It's true that you would have been able to attack me with it next turn, but it won't matter. For now I play the magic card Soul Exchange. Now I get to take control of one of your monsters and sacrifice it for one of my monsters."

Then it seemed as if an invisible force was tugging on the Magna Warrior and pulling it to the other side.

"My monster!" cried Yugi. "That was the most powerful monster on my side of the field."

"Yes, and now it's gone. For now I'll sacrifice it to summon my Swordstalker (ATK 2000, DEF 1600) in Attack Mode." Valkyrion left the field and was replaced by a scary purple beast with a sword in its hand. The Seal gave it 2500 attack points. "And my monster gains a quarter of the attack points of a monster in my Graveyard. And I choose my Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon so it will gain 700 more attack points." And Swordstalker's attack points rose to 3200.

"Now I'll activate my Card of Sanctity magic card so we each draw until we're holding six cards." Both duelists replenished their hands.

"Well today is my lucky day. Now I'll activate Polymerization fusing the two Blue-Eyes in my hand with the one on the field to form Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon (ATK 4500, DEF 3800)." The Blue-Eyes White Dragon on the field got caught in a vortex, and a new three-headed dragon appeared out of the vortex. The Seal of Orichalcos raised its attack strength to 5000.

"And now I'll summon Lord of Dragons (ATK 1200, DEF 1100) in Defense Mode. So now your facedown cards can't hurt my Ultimate Dragon. Lucky for you my monsters can't attack this turn because of Soul Exchange so I'll end my turn."

Yugi stared at Kaiba's side of the field. _He's got five really powerful monsters on his side of the field. The only thing between his monsters and my life points is my Black Luster Soldier. And thanks to his Lord of Dragons, I can't use my trap card on his Ultimate Dragon. So if I don't draw something good, he'll wipe me out on his next turn. Heart of the cards, please guide me. _Yugi smirked when he drew his next card.

"What could you be so happy about?" demanded Ghost Kaiba. "My monsters will surely eat you alive on my next turn, and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

"You're wrong," said Yugi. "And I'll show you why. I summon Kuriboh (ATK 300, DEF 200) in Attack Mode. Now I'll activate one of my two facedown cards, the magic card Multiply."

"Oh no! Not that one!"

"I take it you're aware of what my card does from your reaction. Now my Kuribohs will be multiplied endlessly." Then Yugi's field was suddenly swarmed with thousands of Kuribohs, creating the perfect defense.

"Finally, I'll shift my Black Luster Soldier into Defense Mode and end my turn."

Ghost Kaiba drew his next card. "I'll attack your Black Luster Soldier with my Ultimate Dragon. Take it away, Blue-Eyes." The Ultimate Dragon fired a blast at Yugi's soldier, obliterating it.

"Now I'll have my Vorse Raider, Judge Man, and Sword Stalker attack your fuzz balls." All three monsters charged forward and attacked some of the Kuribohs. But as soon as they were attacked, new Kuribohs emerged to take their place.

"I end my turn."

Yugi drew his next card. _Excellent. I can strengthen my defenses with these cards._ "I'll place two cards facedown and end my turn. Your move."

Ghost Kaiba drew. "I summon X-Head Cannon (ATK 1800, DEF 1500) in Attack Mode." A war-like machine emerged onto the field. Its attack points rose to 2300 thanks to the Seal.

"Thanks to the Seal, I can have more that 5 monsters on the field at once. Now I'll have my X-Head Cannon, Vorse Raider, Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, Judge Man, and Swordstalker all attack your wall of Kuribohs." All five monsters charged forward in an attempt to knock down the Kuribohs, but the Kuribohs were multiplying at a rate faster than the monsters could take them out.

"That's the beauty of my magic card," said Yugi. "You won't be able to knock out my defense by simply attacking them. You'll have to think more strategically."

"I'll end my turn," said Ghost Kaiba. _Little does he know that I already figured out a way to destroy his multiplying Kuribohs. _

Yugi drew his next card. "I'll place one card facedown and end my turn." He now had four cards facedown and his Multiply card face-up.

Ghost Kaiba drew his next card. "I'll sacrifice my Vorse Raider to summon Luster Dragon 2 (ATK 2400, DEF 1400) in Attack Mode." Vorse Raider left the field was replaced by a shiny new dragon whose attack points rose to 2900.

"I'll place two cards facedown. Since it's useless for me to try and attack your wall of Kuribohs, I'll end my turn." Ghost Kaiba now had two facedown cards along with Spell Sanctuary and the Seal of Orichalcos still active.

Yugi drew his next card. "I choose to end my turn without making a move."

Ghost Kaiba drew his next card. "I summon Y-Dragon Head (ATK 1500, DEF 1600) in Attack Mode, and I'll equip it to my X-Head Cannon." On the field emerged a red, metallic dragon which then equipped itself onto the war machine.

"That ends my turn."

Yugi drew his next card. _Something tells me he has a way to bring down my wall of Kuribohs. I'd better strengthen my defenses. _I summon Giant Soldier of Stone (ATK 1300, DEF 2000) in Defense Mode and end my turn." Yugi now had a giant stone creature guarding his life points.

Ghost Kaiba drew his next card. "I summon Z-Metal Tank (ATK 1500, DEF 1300) in Attack Mode and equip it to my XY Dragon Cannon to for XYZ-Dragon Cannon (ATK 2800, DEF 2600) in Attack Mode."

A yellow tank emerged onto the field and then combined with XY-Dragon Cannon to create an even more devastating machine.

"Now, by discarding a card from my hand, my new machine can automatically destroy any card on your side of the field. So I'll discard one card from my hand to knock out your Kuribohs."

Ghost Kaiba discarded one card from his hand to use XYZ-Dragon Cannon's special ability to destroy the Kuriboh card. This in turn destroyed the Multiply card as well. The wall of Kuribohs suddenly shrank from thousands to zero.

"Consider yourself lucky I only had one card in my hand to discard. Otherwise, I would get rid of those four facedown cards of yours. Lucky for me I have my Lord of Dragons on the field to protect my two dragons so I'll have my Luster Dragon 2 get rid of your Giant Soldier of Stone and then have my Ultimate Dragon attack you directly. Take it away, Luster Dragon 2. Attack his Giant Soldier of Stone."

The dragon charged forward, but Yugi had other plans.

"Hold it right there. I activate my facedown card Turn Jump. Here's how it works. First we skip right over the battle phase. Then the turn count moves forward 3."

Now when Ghost Kaiba ordered Luster Dragon 2 to attack, it was turn 33. So it moved forward to turn 36 which meant it was Yugi's turn since it was an even number.

"You may have gotten yourself out of that mess, but I'll get you next turn," yelled Ghost Kaiba.

Yugi drew his next card. "I'll sacrifice my Giant Soldier of Stone to summon my Dark Magician Girl (ATK 2000, 1700) in Attack Mode." The Giant Soldier of Stone disappeared and was replaced with a very pretty girl wearing a magician's clothing. Since there was a Dark Magician in Yugi's Graveyard, her attack points went up to 2300.

Ghost Kaiba merely laughed. "And what is that supposed to do, scare me? In case you haven't noticed all monsters on my side of the field are stronger than her except for my Lord of Dragons."

_Hmmm_ thought Yugi. _I could take out his Lord of Dragons, but his XYZ-Dragon Cannon has one hell of a special ability. I have to get it off the field as soon as possible. _

"She may not be as strong as your monsters yet, but mark my words. My Dark Magician Girl will destroy your XYZ-Dragon Cannon."

"You must be joking. Thanks to the Seal of Orichalcos, my XYZ-Dragon Cannon has 3300 attack points making it 1000 attack points stronger than your Dark Magician Girl."

"That's true, but I never said I was finished. Now I activate the Spell card Negative Energy. By using this powerful magic card, I can double the original attack points of all Dark Attribute monsters on the field."

"Oh no! That will make her stronger than my Dragon Cannon."

Yugi activated the spell, and Dark Magician Girl's attack points rose to 4300. Since Swordstalker was also a Dark Attribute monster, its attack points also rose to 5200.

"Now, Dark Magician Girl, attack his XYZ-Dragon Cannon." The Dark Magician Girl fired a blast from her scepter and turned Ghost Kaiba's war machine into a pile of junk heap. Ghost Kaiba's life points dropped to 1300 while Yugi still had 4050 life points.

"That ends my turn."

Ghost Kaiba drew his next card. "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, attack Dark Magician Girl," he yelled eager for revenge.

The three-headed dragon fired a blast at the Dark Magician Girl. "Hold it right there. I activate my facedown card Graceful Charity. This lets me draw three cards as long as I discard two.

**(Note: Spell Sanctuary is still on the field so he can activate it on his opponent's turn even though it's a Normal Spell card.) **

"Ha ha ha!" laughed Ghost Kaiba. "And what good will that do you? My monster's attack is still happening."

But when the white lightning made contact with the Dark Magician Girl, she appeared unharmed.

"What's this? How is your monster still on the field?"

"It's simple," Yugi explained. "When I activated Graceful Charity, I was allowed to discard two cards to my Graveyard, one of which saved me. You see one of the cards I discarded was my Electromagnetic Turtle (ATK 0, DEF 1800) so I was able to end the battle phase, leaving my Dark Magician Girl unharmed."

"Grrr…" groaned Ghost Kaiba. "I end my turn."

"Good," said Yugi drawing his next card. When he saw the new cards he had drawn with Graceful Charity and the one he had just drawn, a huge grin appeared on his face.

"I'll activate the magic card Monster Reborn to bring back my Dark Magician to the field." The mage wearing purple robes suddenly appeared next to his pupil whose attack strenght dropped to 4000. "And now I'll play Polymerization fusing my Dark Magician with Buster Blader in my hand to form Dark Paladin (ATK 2900, DEF 2400)."

The Dark Magician and Buster Blader got sucked into a whirlpool which spat out a new warrior wearing heavy armor and a staff-shaped sword.

"My new creature gains 500 attack points for every dragon-type monster on the field and in either player's Graveyard," Yugi added. "So now my creature has 7900 attack points."

**(Note: If you've been keeping up with the duel then the dragons that are on the field and in either player's Graveyard are Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, Luster Dragon 2, Spear Dragon, Kaiser Glider, Thunder Dragon, Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon, Curse of Dragon, Koumori Dragon, Winged Dragon of Ra, and Winged Dragon Guardian of the Fortress. That's ten dragons so Dark Paladin gets a 5000 attack point boost.) **

"Awesome!" yelled Tristan. "Now Yugi has the most powerful monster out on the field."

"First I'll have my Dark Magician Girl attack your Lord of Dragons." And the Dark Magician Girl fired a blast from her scepter, taking out Lord of Dragons.

"Lucky for you my Dark Paladin can't attack this turn since it's a fusion monster, right? Wrong. For now I activate the magic card Quick Attack so my Dark Paladin can take out your Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon and the rest of your life points. Dark Paladin, attack!"

Dark Paladin rushed forward ready to bring his sword down into the dragon.

"Hold it right there, Yugi. I activate my facedown card, Magical Trick Mirror. I can only activate it during the battle phase. Here's how it works. I choose a magic card in your Graveyard, and my trap card copies its effect. And the card I'm going for is De-Fusion."

Then Dark Paladin got split up back into the Dark Magician and Buster Blader. Since Buster Blader only gained 500 attack points for each dragon on his opponent's side of the field and Graveyard and not his own, he had 5600 attack points.

"I end my turn," said Yugi.

Then Ghost Kaiba grinned when he drew his next card. "This card will be your downfall. Your Buster Blader may be the most powerful monster on your side of the field, but not for long. I sacrifice Judge Man and Luster Dragon 2 to summon Guardian Eatos (ATK 2500, DEF 2000)." As Judge Man and Luster Dragon 2 disappeared, a woman wearing Native American-type clothing appeared on the field. The Seal gave her 3000 attack points.

Rafael was still watching from the sidelines. _That's my monster. _

"Your new monster is still weaker than my Buster Blader," Yugi pointed out.

"But not for long," Ghost Kaiba countered. "Now I'll equip her with the magic card Celestial Sword. So the attack points of all monsters in your Graveyard will get added to her, making her far stronger than your Buster Blader." When Eatos held her weapon, her attack points went up to 17700.

"17700 attack points!" cried Tea. "Yugi's strongest monster doesn't even come close to that."

"Now Guardian Eatos, destroy his Buster Blader and the rest of his life points."

Eatos swung her sword back, ready to take out the dragon slayer.

"I think not," said Yugi. "I activate my facedown card, the Spellbinding Circle." One of Yugi's facedown cards flipped faceup and was revealed to be a magical crest that ensnared Guardian Eatos and reduced her attack points to 17000. "Now you're monster can't attack or change its battle position.

"You may have saved yourself from defeat, but I still have two more attacks to launch. Swordstalker, attack his Dark Magician and bring his life points down to 0." Swordstalker dashed forward ready to slice and dice the Dark Magician.

"I still have one more facedown card. I reveal Magician's Selection. Now your attack is negated, and I get to destroy the monster with the lowest attack power." Another crest opened up stopping Swordstalker in its tracks. On the field Ghost Kaiba had Guardian Eatos with 17000 attack points, Swordstalker with 5200 attack points, and Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon with 5000 attack points. So the new crest circled itself around Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon and destroyed it.

"Now you have no more monsters you can attack me with."

"Fine. I end my turn."

Yugi drew his next card. "As long as your Guardian Eatos, is on the field I can't get at your life points. Luckily, I have just the thing I need to take it down. But first I'll activate Monster Reincarnation. Now by discarding my second copy of Gold Sarcophagus, I can bring a monster back from the Graveyard to my hand."

As Yugi discarded his magic card, a monster returned from the Graveyard to his hand. Eatos's attack points went down to 16700.

"Now I'll sacrifice my Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl to summon Gandora the Dragon of Destruction (ATK 0, DEF 0)." As the Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl materialized, a dragon with many red spots along its scales appeared on the field next to Buster Blader. Eatos's attack points went up to 21200.

"Now by paying half my life points, I can use Gandora's special ability to destroy all cards out on the field." And here Yugi's life points dropped from 4050 to 2025. "Your monster may have the most attack points, but it won't matter. Gandora activate your special ability, boundless giggarays." Laser beams shot out everywhere from Gandora's body. The laser beams killed both Swordstalker and Buster Blader. The Seal of Orichalcos still remained in play since it couldn't be destroyed by any card effects, but Spell Sanctuary was destroyed.

The arena was smoky from all of Gandora's laser beams. But when the smoked cleared, Eatos was still on the field equipped with her Celestial Sword.

"What's going on?" asked Yugi. "My dragon's special ability should have destroyed your monster. How is she still standing?"

"It's simple," explained Ghost Kaiba. "You see I activated a trap card called Wind Illusion."

**(Note: Wind Illusion is a card I made up and does not exist in the real game. The idea for this card came from the episode The Final Duel Part IV when the Pharaoh used Dark Illusion to protect his Dark Magician.)**

"What does that do?" asked Yugi. "I've never heard of that card."

"When a Wind Attribute monster is about to be destroyed by a card effect, I can activate this card to protect it and any equip spell it might be holding."

"You had that planned all along, didn't you?"

"Yes, and I thank you for helping me out. You see thanks to your dragon's special ability, the Spellbinding Circle that was preventing my monster from attacking is gone. So she'll regain the 700 attack points she lost." And here Guardian Eatos's attack points rose to 21900. "And since your Buster Blader was also destroyed by your dragon's special ability, she'll gain 2600 more attack points." Eatos's attack points once again rose to 24500.

"Fine. I end my turn," said Yugi. Gandora the Dragon of Destruction went to the Graveyard.

Tea had a worried look on her face. _Oh no! Yugi doesn't have any monsters to protect his life points or any facedown cards. That means that evil creature will be able to attack Yugi directly, which would mean Yugi's soul will be gone forever. _

"Good," said Ghost Kaiba drawing his next card. "Oh this seems too easy. You have no cards on the field. That means all I have to do is attack you directly, and I'll win the duel. Guardian Eatos, attack his life points directly."

With absolutely nothing on the field, Eatos swung her sword back ready to bring it right into Yugi's shoulder.


	12. Kaiba vs Yugi Part 4

**Kaiba vs Yugi Part 4**

"Oh no!" cried Tea. "As soon as that creature attacks him directly, his soul will be gone forever."

"It's over, Yugi. Once my creature attacks you directly you're finished. You may have beaten me in Duelist Kingdom, but that was only because Kaiba was there to bail you out. This time, neither he nor you can do a thing to stop me since your field is completely empty."

Indeed Yugi had no monsters on the field to guard his life points or any facedown cards. Guardian Eatos flew over to Yugi ready to bury her sword into Yugi's shoulders. But then Yugi quickly discarded one of the two remaining cards in his hand to the Graveyard. Suddenly, a massive wall of Kuribohs appeared out of nowhere, blocking her attack.

"What's this?" cried the evil clown. "The mighty Guardian Eatos was stopped by a bunch of fuzz balls?"

"It's simple," said Yugi. "When I activated Monster Reincarnation, the monster I brought back from my Graveyard was my Kuriboh. And, as you know, my Kuriboh has a special ability. Whenever I discard it to the Graveyard, I can reduce any battle damage I would have gotten to 0." Since Kuriboh had gone back to the Graveyard, Guardian Eatos's attack points went back up to 24800.

"You may have saved yourself this time, but my turn is not over yet. Now I activate the magic card Spider Web." And here, a stream of spider web shot out from the evil clown's duel disk and went into Yugi's Graveyard. "Now I get to use the magic card you discarded to activate Monster Reincarnation, your second copy of Gold Sarcophagus. So now I'll take a card from my deck and place it into this ancient box. And if you happen to activate the same card, its effect will be negated." The golden chest descended from the sky. As the lid opened up, Ghost Kaiba thumbed through his deck and placed a card inside the box. "That ends my turn."

_The only card I have in my hand is my Brave Attack magic card, which can't help me right now. If I don't draw a monster card right now, my life points will be wide open for a direct attack. Heart of the cards…guide me._

Slowly, Yugi drew his next card. Luckily for him, it was a monster card. "I summon Griffore (ATK 1200, DEF 1500) in Defense Mode and end my turn."

Ghost Kaiba drew his next card. "I'll play my Pot of Greed magic card. So I'll draw two more cards. Next I'll place one card facedown. Guardian Eatos, attack his Griffore."

Griffore's tough hide could not defend itself against the overwhelming strength of Guardian Eatos as it got sliced in two.

"Now that your Griffore is in the Graveyard, its strength is added to my monster." Guardian Eatos's attack points went up again to 26000.

"26000 attack points!" exclaimed Tristan. "That thing's out of control. Yugi will never be able to summon a monster that can beat that thing."

"Don't be so sure, Tristan. He may not have a monster with that many attack points in his deck, but I've seen him get out of way tougher situations than this. Plus he has the heart of the cards on his side," said Joey.

Yugi drew his next card. "I summon Silver Fang (ATK 1200, DEF 800) in Defense Mode and end my turn." A wolf in white fur appeared on the field, guarding Yugi's life points.

Ghost Kaiba quickly drew his next card. "And I'll attack your Silver Fang with Guardian Eatos." The Native American attacked the wolf and its strength was immediately added to her attack points, bringing it up to 27200.

Yugi quickly drew his next card. "I'll play Pot of Greed so that I can draw two more cards." Yugi drew his next two cards and grinned widely when he saw what he had drawn. "I'll set a monster in facedown Defense Mode and place one card facedown. Your move."

"Very good," said Ghost Kaiba drawing his next card. "I'll also set one card facedown. I'd attack your facedown monster, but from that smirk on your face, I'm almost certain your facedown card is a trap. So I'll just end my turn for now."

Yugi drew his next card. "I set one more card facedown and end my turn. Your move."

The evil clown drew his next card. "Guardian Eatos, attack his facedown monster now." Guardian Eatos flew into the air and swooped down toward the facedown monster.

"I now activate my trap, Mirror Force, to reflect the attack back at you and destroy your monster." Yugi's card flipped faceup which was revealed to be a mirror reflecting a beam.

"And I'll counter your Mirror Force with a trap card of my own, Solemn Judgment. By paying half my life points, I can shatter your Mirror Force card." Ghost Kaiba's facedown card flipped faceup showing an old, bearded man holding his hand out. The Mirror Force card shattered and Ghost Kaiba's life points went from 1300 to 650.

_Excellent_ thought Yugi. _Now that his life points are less than 1000 he'll automatically lose when he strikes my monster. _

Guardian Eatos struck the facedown monster, but when it was flipped faceup, it was revealed to be a pinkish blob.

"You just attacked my Marshmallon (ATK 300, DEF 500)," Yugi said excitedly. "He can't be destroyed by battle, so that defense is here to say. But more importantly, when you attack him while he's facedown, you lose 1000 life points, which means you lose the duel."

"Awesome!" exclaimed Tristan. "Yugi figured out a way to outsmart that evil clown and save himself."

"Who's da man?" said Joey.

"He is," said Tea.

But when Yugi's crowd glanced at the scoreboard, they saw that Ghost Kaiba's life points were still at 650.

"What's going on?" asked Tristan. "He attacked Marshmallon so he should have lost the rest of his life points."

"Explain yourself," demanded Yugi. "Why didn't your life points hit 0?"

"Did you forget that I still have one more facedown card, Yugi?"

"So what?"

"So my facedown card will ensure that I don't lose any life points thanks to your Marshmallon's special ability. And now I reveal it, the trap card Divine Wind." Ghost Kaiba's card flipped faceup showing a man encircled by a cyclone and a blast of water bouncing off the cyclonic wind. "Here's how it works. I take no damage thanks to my trap card. But, more importantly, you take twice the damage I would've gotten. So I'm afraid your little plan to defeat me ended up hurting you instead of me."

"Oh no!" yelled Tea.

Suddenly, Marshmallon sent a shockwave toward Ghost Kaiba which then bounced off the cyclone and then got reflected back toward Yugi, draining his life points from 2025 to 25. Yugi fell to the floor and held his chest in pain.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Ghost Kaiba laughed maniacally. "It looks like I'm the one who outsmarted you this time. What will you do now?"

Yugi pulled himself off the ground. "I won't give up," he said drawing his next card. "I activate my facedown card, Marshmallon Glasses." A pair of silly glasses flipped faceup and stuck themselves onto Guardian Eatos. She tugged and tugged with all her might to pull the glasses off her face, but they simply would not budge. "Now, with this magic card in play, you can't attack any monster except for Marshmallon."

"Oh no!" yelled Ghost Kaiba.

"And that's not all. Now I'll summon Big Shield Gardna (ATK 100, DEF 2600) in Defense Mode and end my turn." A warrior bearing a giant shield appeared, guarding Yugi's life points.

Ghost Kaiba drew his next card. It was Enemy Controller. _I could use this card to destroy his Marshmallon, but need to pay 1000 life points to use it. And right now I only have 650._ "I'll place one card facedown and end my turn," he said, placing the Enemy Controller card facedown.

Yugi drew his next card. "I'll also place one card facedown and end my turn."

Ghost Kaiba drew his next card. "I'll end my turn. There's nothing I can do."

"Now I draw. I summon Witch of the Black Forest (ATK 1100, DEF 1200) in Defense Mode and end my turn." A woman with purple hair dressed in black clothing appeared next to Big Shield Gardna and Marshmallon.

Ghost Kaiba drew his next card. "Grrr… there's nothing I can do. Those Marshmallon Glasses sure are annoying."

"Good. Then it's my move," Yugi said adding another card to his hand. Some nostalgia overcame Yugi when he saw that it was one of the two cards Joey had fished out of the water for him on the way to Duelist Kingdom. "I summon the Left Arm of the Forbidden One (ATK 200, DEF 300) in Defense Mode and end my turn."

Ghost Kaiba drew another card. He was becoming extremely angry because he couldn't use any of the cards in his hand. "I end my turn without making a move."

"Then I'll draw my next card," said Yugi doing just that. He felt even more nostalgia when he saw that he had drawn the other Exodia piece Joey had fished out of the ocean. "I summon Exodia the Forbidden One (ATK 1000, DEF 1000) in Defense Mode and end my turn." The head of a pharaoh appeared on the field alongside Marshmallon, Big Shield Gardna, Exodia's Left Arm, and Witch of the Black Forest.

**(Note: I don't think it's ever stated which two pieces of Exodia Joey retrieved from the ocean. For this fic, I'm assuming he retrieved the Left Arm piece and Exodia's head.)**

"You realize what this means, don't you?" asked Yugi. "If I draw my Egyptian God Obelisk the Tormentor, you're finished. I have five monsters on the field, and I'll be able to sacrifice three of them to summon Obelisk and then the remaining two to inflict 4000 points of damage to you."

Ghost Kaiba gulped. _He's right. If I don't find a way to deal with that Marshmallon I'll be a goner. _He drew his next card and cursed at what was in his hand. He had two copies of Flute of Summoning Dragon, Dimension Fusion, Negative Energy, Return from the Different Dimension, De-Fusion, and White Dragon Ritual, and it seemed that none of those cards could help him at the moment. If he had remembered that there were two copies of Peten the Dark Clown removed from play, he could have used Return from the Different Dimension to bring one of them back to destroy the Left Arm of the Forbidden One. "I end my turn," he yelled hoping that Yugi would not draw Obelisk the Tormentor on his next turn. He was forced to discard a card due to the hand size limit so he chose White Dragon Ritual.

_This is it!_ Yugi thought to himself. _I can end this duel right now and escape the Seal if I draw Obelisk._ Yugi's face looked nervous when he saw what he had drawn. He had indeed drawn an Egyptian God, but it was Slifer the Sky Dragon, not Obelisk the Tormentor. _What in the world? Slifer the Sky Dragon? I can't use this right now. _"I end my turn without making a move," declared Yugi.

Ghost Kaiba breathed a sigh of relief but knew he had to act quickly. When he picked up his next card, he saw that it was Magic Jammer. _Hmmm… _the evil creature thought to himself. _This can't help me now, but it could come in handy later. _"I'll place this card facedown and end my turn."

Yugi quickly picked up his next card. "Again, I end my turn without making a move."

The monster picked up his card. "I end my turn without making a move. I have to discard this due to the hand size limit." And here he discarded one of the copies of Flute of Summoning Dragon to the Graveyard.

Yugi drew. "I end my turn without making a move."

Ghost Kaiba drew his next card. "I end my turn without making a move. I have to discard this from my hand due to the hand size limit." Here Ghost Kaiba discarded Dimension Fusion from his hand.

"It's my move," yelled Yugi hoping one of them would be able to actually do something soon. A huge grin formed on Yugi's face when he saw what he had drawn.

Yugi's huge grin made the evil monster really nervous. "What are you so happy about?" Ghost Kaiba asked frantically as sweat poured down his body.

"I've drawn just what I needed to tip the scales in my favor," Yugi declared. "Now I'll sacrifice my Big Shield Gardna so that I can summon my Catapult Turtle (ATK 1000, DEF 2000) in Defense Mode." As Big Shield Gardna materialized, a mechanical turtle with a launching device on its shell took its place. Guardian Eatos's attack points went up to 27300.

"Awesome!" yelled Tea. "Now that ugly creature is in some serious trouble."

"When I have Catapult Turtle on the field, I am allowed to sacrifice one monster per turn and inflict damage equal to half of that monster's attack points. So now I'll use Catapult Turtle's effect to sacrifice my Witch of the Black Forest." The Witch of the Black Forest hopped on the back of Catapult Turtle and went flying into the sky. Ghost Kaiba's life points dropped from 650 to 100. Guardian Eatos's attack points went up to 28400.

"And that's not all. When my Witch of the Black Forest is sent from the field to the Graveyard, I can take any monster from my deck with 1500 defense points or fewer and add it to my hand. And I choose my King's Knight (ATK 1600, DEF 1400)."

Ghost Kaiba gulped when he saw he was in huge trouble. "This is it," said Yugi. "With Marshmallon Glasses still attached to Guardian Eatos, I doubt there will be a single thing you can do. Then that'll be it for you."

_He's right. If I don't do something about that Marshmallon, he'll be able to use Catapult Turtle's effect on his next turn to bring my life points all the way down to 0._ Ghost Kaiba slowly drew his next card, afraid that it wouldn't be able to help him. It turned out to be a Pot of Greed magic card.

"I play the spell card Pot of Greed so that I can draw two card," the monster said drawing two more cards. His face brightened when he saw one of the two cards. "Well, hot damn! This is my lucky day. Now I'll play the spell card Stop Defense so I can switch your Marshmallon from Defense to Attack Mode. Now when Eatos attacks your Marshmallon you'll lose life points."

"Oh no!" yelled Yugi, quickly becoming afraid. Marshmallon began to sit up. But just at that moment, Yugi remembered he had a very helpful facedown card on his side of the field. "I activate my facedown card, Magic Jammer. By discarding one card from my hand, I can stop the activation of your spell card. So my Marshmallon will stay in Defense Mode." Yugi quickly discarded Sage's Stone from his hand to activate Magic Jammer.

"My plan is ruined!" the evil creature yelled.

"Once you end your turn, I'll use Catapult Turtle's effect to sacrifice Exodia's head and win the duel."

Ghost Kaiba shivered at the seemingly useless cards in his hand. He still had one copy of Flute of Summoning Dragon, Negative Energy, Return from the Different Dimension, De-Fusion, Dragon's Rage, Burst Stream of Destruction, and the other card he had drawn from Pot of Greed's effect which was Spell Economics. None of these cards seemed to be of any use. He hung his head down.

"I'm taking your silence as a forfeit. Is that correct?" asked Yugi.

Ghost Kaiba took a closer look at the other card he had drawn with Pot of Greed, and then the answer came to him like a bolt of lightning. He had two cards facedown, one of which he could now use thanks to the spell card he had drawn. "No! I will never surrender to you. You may have defeated me in Duelist Kingdom, but I promised myself I would have my revenge. Now I activate the magic card Spell Economics. When this card is activated, I don't have to pay any life points to activate any magic cards. And now I play my facedown card, Enemy Controller."

One of Ghost Kaiba's two facedown cards flipped face-up and materialized. It showed what appeared to be a Nintendo 64 controller.

"Normally, I would have to pay 1000 life points to activate this, but thanks to Spell Economics, I don't. Now I can use this magic card to destroy your Marshmallon. Up-Left-Down-Right-A."

A wire shot out of the controller and attached itself to Marshmallon. Marshmallon got vaporized, and the glasses on Guardian Eatos shattered into a million pieces as her attack points went up to 28700.

"Now I am free to take down your Catapult Turtle. Guardian Eatos, attack his Catapult Turtle right now."

Guardian Eatos brought down her sword into the shell of Yugi's Catapult Turtle, and her attack points went up to 29700.

Yugi silently cursed himself. He just realized that he could have used Magic Jammer to negate Pot of Greed and prevent the monster from drawing the two cards. Ghost Kaiba then would not have been able to get rid of Marshmallon which would have allowed Yugi to use Catapult Turtle's effect again to win the duel. But it was too late for that.

"So much for your plan to use your Catapult Turtle to finish me off. I end my turn."

Yugi drew his next card. He drew his Brain Control magic card. "I may not have my Catapult Turtle anymore, but I can still take you down. Once I play this magic card I just drew, you won't have any monsters to protect your life points. I activate the magic card Brain Control to take control of Guardian Eatos."

"I don't think so," yelled Ghost Kaiba. "I activate my facedown card Magic Jammer." Ghost Kaiba quickly discarded his second copy of Flute of Summoning Dragon to activate Magic Jammer's effect.

"I end my turn," said Yugi frustrated that Ghost Kaiba had yet again thwarted his game-winning move.

Ghost Kaiba quickly drew his next card. "Guardian Eatos, destroy the Left Arm of the Forbidden One." Eatos swiftly flew over and slashed Exodia's Left Arm. Her attack points went up to 29900. "That ends my turn." He was again forced to discard a card from his hand. He discarded Dragon's Rage.

Yugi quickly drew his next card. "I place a monster facedown in Defense Mode and end my turn."

Ghost Kaiba drew. "First I'll place this card facedown. Guardian Eatos, attack Exodia the Forbidden One." Eatos slashed Exodia's head, and her attack points rose to 30900.

Yugi drew his next card. "I'll place this card facedown and end my turn."

Ghost Kaiba drew again. "Guardian Eatos, attack his facedown monster." Eatos flew toward the facedown card, but her attack was met with a great resistance. The monster flipped faceup and was revealed to be an elf-like creature with lots of muscles.

"What is this?" Ghost Kaiba exclaimed dumbfounded.

"That was my Obnoxious Celtic Guardian (ATK 1400, DEF 1200). He can't be destroyed by a monster with 1900 or more attack points. And you're monster has way more attack points than 1900. So I guess you won't be getting by my defense unless you summon another monster to the field."

"I end my turn," said Ghost Kaiba.

"Good. Then it's my move," said Yugi drawing. "I'll place two cards facedown and summon Watapon (ATK 200, DEF 300) in Defense Mode. That ends my turn."

Ghost Kaiba drew. "You may think your defense is invincible with that Obnoxious Celtic Guardian, but I'll prove you wrong. I summon Giant Germ (ATK 1000, DEF 100) in Attack Mode." A giant purple ball with brown spots appeared on the field. The Seal raised its attack points to 1500. "Thanks to the Seal my Giant Germ will be able to take down your Obnoxious Celtic Guardian. And if you're planning to destroy my Giant Germ with one of your three facedown cards, you'll lose 500 life points."

But Yugi merely smirked. "That's exactly what I wanted you to do."

"What? But why?"

"Because now you've activated my trap, Dark Renewal." One of Yugi's facedown cards flipped up revealing a coffin with purple cushioning on the inside. "Now your Giant Germ and my Watapon will get sacrificed so that I can bring back my Dark Magician." The coffin sucked up both creatures. Giant Germ went to Ghost Kaiba's Graveyard while Watapon went to Yugi's Graveyard. Guardian Eatos's attack points went up to 31100 because of Watapon but then immediately went back down to 28600 since the Dark Magician was coming out of the Graveyard.

"The Dark Magician! Not him!" exclaimed Ghost Kaiba.

"Well are you going to attack my Dark Magician, or are you afraid of my two facedown cards?" taunted Yugi.

"Grrr… I end my turn." Indeed the evil spirit was afraid of Yugi's two facedown cards.

Yugi drew his next card. "That's too bad because you should have attacked me. Now I activate my facedown card, the Mystic Box." Two boxes with question marks formed around both the Dark Magician and Guardian Eatos. "Now be amazed as my Dark Magician is skewered. But have I destroyed my own creature, or have I really destroyed yours?"

Knives from every direction pierced the box that contained the Dark Magician. However when the box that captured Guardian Eatos opened up, it showed the Dark Magician. Yugi thought for sure he had destroyed the creature with so many attack points, but when the box with knives in it opened up, it was empty.

"What's going on?" asked Yugi. "The Mystic box should have destroyed your monster. Where is it?"

"It's simple," answered Ghost Kaiba. "I played my facedown card Interdimensional Matter Transporter, removing my monster from play before your plan to destroy her could work."

Yugi was concerned for a moment but then immediately saw the flaw in his move. "You may have saved your monster, but you left yourself wide open for a direct attack. So now I'll switch my Dark Magician into Attack Mode. Dark Magician, attack him directly."

The Dark Magician raised his staff ready to fire at Ghost Kaiba.

"I reveal my spell card, Command Silencer." Ghost Kaiba's final facedown card flipped faceup revealing a totem pole that looked like a bird. A loud screeching sound echoed throughout the entire stadium. "Thanks to my Quick-Play spell card, your Dark Magician didn't hear your attack. And I get to draw one card from my deck."

Guardian Eatos returned to the field, and Ghost Kaiba drew his next card. "And since you put your Dark Magician in Attack Mode, I'll win the duel once I attack him. But before that, I think I'll play my Tribute to the Doomed magic card to clear the field of your Obnoxious Celtic Guardian." Ghost Kaiba discarded Burst Stream of Destruction to activate its effect. Bandages wrapped around Obnoxious Celtic Guardian and dragged him below the earth. Eatos's attack points went up to 30000.

"Now all that's left for me to do is call my attack. Guardian Eatos, attack his Dark Magician right now." Eatos was ready to destroy Yugi's Dark Magician and the rest of his life points, but Yugi had other plans.

"I'll save my Dark Magician with my facedown card, Magical Hats." Four hat tokens appeared, hiding the Dark Magician. Eatos ended up striking an empty hat token.

"You may have saved yourself for now, but you're going down on my next turn. I'll place one card facedown and end my turn."

Yugi drew his next card. "I'll shift my Dark Magician into Defense Mode. That's all I can do for now."

Ghost Kaiba drew again. "Eatos attack another hat token." Eatos slashed at a hat token. This time she successfully destroyed the Dark Magician. Her attack points went up to 32500. The remaining hat tokens disappeared. Ghost Kaiba was forced to discard another card from his hand due to the hand size limit.

Yugi drew his next card. _Good. This is just what I need. _"I play Swords of Revealing Light. So now your monster can't attack me for three whole turns." Three brightly-shining swords fell from the sky. _Hopefully, I can stall for enough time to draw what I need. _

"Next I'll play Pot of Greed so that I can draw two more cards." Yugi picked up his next two cards. _Awesome. It's one of the cards that Joey gave me. _"I'll place these two cards facedown and summon King's Knight (ATK 1600, DEF 1400) in Defense Mode. That ends my turn."

"Very well. But a three-turn delay won't help you." Ghost Kaiba drew his next card. "I end my turn without making a move." The first of the three swords vanished, and Ghost Kaiba was forced to discard another card because of the hand size limit.

Yugi drew his next card. "I summon Queen's Knight (ATK 1500, DEF 1600) in Defense Mode. This lets me automatically summon Jack's Knight (ATK 1900, DEF 1000) to the field. I'm placing him in Defense Mode as well. That ends my turn."

It was now the second turn that Ghost Kaiba could not attack. "I again end my turn without making a move." The second of the three swords disappeared.

Yugi drew his next card. _Excellent! It's the other card that Joey gave me._ "I'll place this card facedown and end my turn."

It was now the last turn that Ghost Kaiba could not attack. "I'll place one card facedown and end my turn." The final sword disappeared.

Yugi drew, and was very ecstatic when he saw what it was. _Sweet! I've drawn Mystical Space Typhoon. Once I play this, I'll be able to destroy his Celestial Sword. That will bring Guardian Eatos's attack points all the way down to 3000. Then I'll finally be able to play my Brave Attack magic card that I've had for a long time and destroy his monster and the rest of his life points. _"Now I'll switch my King's Knight, Queen's Knight, and Jack's Knight into Attack Mode. Your monster may gain all of the attack points of the monsters in my Graveyard for now, but that's all about to change. Now I play my Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your Celestial Sword."

A small tornado started spinning toward Guardian Eatos's weapon. However, instead of destroying her weapon it simply continued spinning right in front of her. Then Yugi saw the gold chest that had been hovering in the sky suddenly lower.

"Oh, Yugi! Remember when I used Spider Web to activate your second copy of Gold Sarcophagus? Well guess which card I put inside of there."

"No… you couldn't have," said Yugi who was sure he would win with that move.

"That's right. The card I put inside was Mystical Space Typhoon. So now the effect of your Mystical Space Typhoon is negated, and my monster gets to keep her sword.

Yugi stared at his hand trying to come up with another move. He stared at his Egyptian God Slifer the Sky Dragon which he had in his hand for a while. _I have to summon Slifer. It's the only way I can win. I may be adding attack points to his monster by doing so, but that's a risk I have to take. _

"I sacrifice my King's Knight, Queen's Knight, and Jack's Knight so that I can summon my Egyptian God Slifer the Sky Dragon (ATK ?, DEF ?) in Attack Mode." The three knights disappeared raising Guardian Eatos's attack points from 32500 to 37500. The audience stared in amazement as the great red dragon emerged onto the field. Since Yugi had two cards in his hand at the moment, Slifer had 2000 attack points.

"You've triggered my trap, Graveyard Sender."

"Graveyard Sender? I've never heard of that trap card before."

"Here's how it works. When you summon a level 10 or higher monster, all other monsters of that same level and type in your deck and hand get sent to the Graveyard."

**(Note: Graveyard Sender is a card I made up. You won't find it anywhere on yugiohwikia.)**

A grappling hook emerged from the ground and ripped through Slifer the Sky Dragon's chest. It then pierced every card in Yugi's hand and then every card in Yugi's deck. It stopped and yanked out the card that was on the very bottom of his deck and slipped it into his Graveyard. Eatos's attack points rose to 41500. Finally the chain retracted from the cards in Yugi's deck and hand and went back into the ground.

_Obelisk the Tormentor was at the very bottom of my deck. So that's why I couldn't draw him earlier. _

"Now I activate my facedown card, Card of Sanctity. This means we'll both draw until we're holding six cards." Ghost Kaiba was already holding six cards so only Yugi had to draw. "Now my Egyptian God has 6000 attack points."

"He put his Egyptian God in _Attack_ Mode?" cried Duke Devlin. "What the hell is he thinking?"

"It's true that Slifer may be one of the most powerful monsters in the game, but that thing has 41500 attack points. I don't think anything can stand up to that," said Mokuba.

Joey took a good hard look at the two facedown cards on Yugi's side of the field. _Could those be the two cards I gave Yugi?_

"Now my Egyptian God…" Yugi began but then stopped. He wanted to call his attack now, but felt very hesitant looking at the overwhelming strength of the monster on Ghost Kaiba's side. "I end my turn," he declared finally.

"Very good. This duel's about to be over with anyway since you were foolish enough to put Slifer in Attack Mode," Ghost Kaiba said drawing his card. "I'll start by activating the only card I have facedown on the field. It's called Final Trap."

"What is that?" asked Yugi.

"This trap card makes it so that any magic or trap card that lies in either of our Graveyards cannot be activated again as long as this is on the field. Now let's see what I drew." Ghost Kaiba looked at the card he had drawn. "Well it looks like I'll have my revenge after all. Ha ha ha ha ha!"

"What did you draw?"

"I drew the magic card Graveyard Transfer." When he activated it, it showed a picture of men digging with shovels in a cemetery.

"What does that do?" Yugi asked.

"It lets me take all the monsters that are in my Graveyard and put then in your Graveyard at a cost of 1000 life points."

**(Note: Final Trap and Graveyard Transfer are also cards that I made up.)**

"Great move, Einstein," yelled Tristan from the stands. "You don't have enough life points left to activate it."

"Don't forget that that evil thing still has Spell Economics in play. So he doesn't have to pay any life points to activate it," Rebecca informed Tristan.

Suddenly, Guardian Eatos's attack points went up from 41500 to 77200.

"Oh no!" yelled Yugi in fear. "That thing has way too many attack points."

"This is the end for you," declared Ghost Kaiba. "Guardian Eatos, wipe out his Egyptian God and the rest of his life points." Eatos raised her sword ready to slay the mighty red dragon.

"Hold it right there!" shouted Yugi. "I activate my facedown card, Graceful Dice." A fairy-like creature appeared on the field and dropped a blue die on the ground. "Now the attack points of my Egyptian God will get multiplied by the number I roll on the die. So the higher I roll, the more Slifer's attack points get increased by."

"Come on, baby!" yelled Joey. "Six or higher! Six or higher!"

"Uh, Joey," said Tea. "The die roll can't be higher than a six."

"I knew that," said Joey embarrassed.

The die landed on a three.

"Since the die has landed on a three, Slifer's attack points will increase to 18000."

But Ghost Kaiba merely laughed at what he thought was a pathetic attempt at a strategy. "You fool. Your monster's attack points still don't even come close to my monster's attack points. Finish this duel," he commanded his monster.

"I activate my other facedown card, Skull Dice."

"A Skull Dice!" yelled Kaiba.

"That's right. Now your monster's attack points will get divided by the number I roll on the die. So the higher I roll, the more attack points your monster will lose."

_If that die lands on a five or six I'm finished. _

A little mischievous creature appeared on the field and dropped a red die on the ground. Everyone watched in anticipation to see what it would land on. It landed on a five so Guardian Eatos's attack points went down from 77200 to 15440.

"The die has landed on a five making my Egyptian God stronger than your monster which means you lose." Slifer fired a blast from its mouth obliterating Guardian Eatos to smithereens. Ghost Kaiba's life points fell to 0.

"Nooooooo!" he yelled as the Seal encircled around him and he fell unconscious. After the Seal disappeared, the hideous clown slowly transformed back into Seto Kaiba.

Mokuba hopped over the railing and ran over to his brother. He touched his face. "Big brother, wake up." But Seto did not respond. He simply stayed on the ground lifelessly with his eyes closed.

Mokuba decided to try again. "BIG BROTHER, WAKE UP!" he yelled directly into Seto's ears. But Seto still did not move an inch. Mokuba clung to his brother's seemingly dead body and let out a huge wail as tears poured down his face uncontrollably.

**(Note: Yes, the two cards Joey gave to Yugi right before the duel were Graceful Dice and Skull Dice. Congratulations, darkelf777. You correctly guessed one of the two cards. There is still more to come. So stay tuned.)**


	13. The Shadow Realm

**The Shadow Realm**

Yugi, dropping his duel disk and all his cards, dashed over toward Mokuba who was still cradling Seto's unconscious head. Yugi's friends hopped over the railing and also came toward the unconscious body. Mokuba was still crying. "The last thing I told my big brother was that I wanted him to lose."

"Kaiba may have always bugged me, but nobody deserves to have their soul taken away by that thing," said Joey.

When Yugi turned his head to his crowd of friends, he saw a huge, burly man walking toward them. "Raphael?" he asked. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here because that punk took two of my best cards so I came by to get them back."

"You're the one who has the most experience with the Orichalcos card. What do you think happened to Kaiba's soul?"

"Well when the Great Leviathan was around, the Seal would capture souls and feed these souls to the Great Beast. But this is the first time anyone's ever played the Seal of Orichalcos since the Great Beast was defeated. There's no telling where his soul is now," replied Raphael.

"If that Skull Dice hadn't landed on a five, that thing would have taken my soul instead. I sure did get lucky."

"You're wrong," a loud voice spoke from an unknown spot. Then a cloud formed around the spot where Yugi had been standing during the duel. Out of the cloud stepped a man with tan skin and robes all over his body.

"It's Shadi!" exclaimed Yugi.

"GYAA! More ghosts!" cried Joey. "What's he doing here?"

Shadi bent down and picked up two of the cards that Yugi dropped. "I sense you have a powerful bond with these two cards," he said holding up Graceful Dice and Skull Dice.

"Well actually those are Joey's cards," Yugi explained.

"Yes, but your friendship with Joey is strong, which in turn means that your bond with the cards he gave you is strong. You see, it was not luck that you got the necessary rolls to win the duel. It was your belief in the heart of the cards.

"So what brings you here?" asked Yugi.

"I came because I sensed a dark presence in this building."

"But I thought you returned to the world of the dead with the Pharaoh after I defeated him in that ritual duel."

"Not quite," explained Shadi. "After the Pharaoh returned to the world of the dead, he told me to watch over you before I returned to the world of the dead with him. You see, he sensed the anger and jealousy that was inside of Kaiba. He feared that Kaiba's desire to reclaim his world championship status might somehow put you in danger."

"Well it looks like Kaiba is the one in danger now," said Yugi. "His soul is gone."

"Yes. His soul is in the Shadow Realm. Gather around everyone," Shadi said. Everyone sat down Indian-style in a circle with Shadi in the center. "Long ago there was a creature called the Great Leviathan that wanted to destroy the world by consuming souls. One day, the Great Leviathan found a gateway to the Shadow Realm. Souls would get sent to the Shadow Realm by a rock fragment called the Orichalcos. So in order to consume more souls, the Great Leviathan blocked this gateway to the Shadow Realm."

"Oh, I get it," said Tea. "So instead of going to the Shadow Realm the souls would get fed to the Great Beast."

"Exactly," explained Shadi.

"That's something Master Dartz never even told us," said Rafael.

"Well I guess you want your two cards back," said Yugi. "Well here you go." Yugi handed Rafael his Celestial Sword and Guardian Eatos cards who left the scene.

**(Note: I debated on whether or not Rafael should stay in the story. I decided that he served his purpose and should not appear again. Sorry if you were expecting him to stick around.)**

Just as Rafael was leaving, Yugi heard a familiar voice. "Yugi-boy!"

"Pegasus? What are you doing here?" asked Yugi.

"I had to come. I saw the match on television and how Kaiba-boy changed into that evil creature. This is all my fault. If I hadn't released that creature from the Shadow Realm for my own selfish goals, this whole mess might never have occurred. What was I thinking?"

"This wasn't your fault," Yugi replied. "That evil creature was sent back to the Shadow Realm by the Pharaoh but escaped again because the darkness in Kaiba's heart was so great."

"There is a way we can rescue his soul from the Shadow Realm," Shadi continued. "The Millennium Key that I once possessed has the ability to unlock minds, but it also has the ability to release souls from the Shadow Realm. To uncover this item, we must go to the place where the Millennium Items were buried."

"My father should come with us since he's an expert archaeologist," said Rebecca.

"You can count me in," yelled Pegasus. "I too am an archaeologist, and I can pay for all our travel expenses. Who else is coming?"

Yugi and all of his friends raised their hands.

"Hang in there, bro," Mokuba said to Seto Kaiba's unconscious body. "We're coming to get you."

THE SHADOW REALM

When Seto awoke, he found himself inside of a bubble floating in space.

"What the…where am I?" he spoke aloud to himself. The last thing he could remember was being in a duel against Yugi Muto and seeing his hands change into a monster's hands. When he looked around he saw a red background and immediately recognized his surroundings. "I recognize this place. This is where I went when I got knocked out of the fight with Dartz." The scenery looked almost the same, but there were two major differences. Last time there had been multiple bubbles floating in the area. This time there were no bubbles other than the one containing him. The second difference was that the Great Leviathan's eye had been replaced by a giant swirling vortex.

The bubble seemed to be floating very slowly toward the giant vortex. There was a soft, soothing swishing noise coming from the vortex. Seto thought of the time he and his brother had gone ice skating when their biological parents were still alive. He didn't know why that thought just popped into his head. Perhaps the way the bubble was moving toward the vortex reminded him of the movements they made ice skating.

An hour later after he had started daydreaming, he noticed something else. The bubble had picked up its pace picked toward the vortex. This made him think of another moment he had shared with his brother while their biological parents were still alive. It reminded him of the time he and Mokuba had gone to a water park. They had both gone on this huge slide that lead into a pool. The speed at which the bubble was now traveling was very similar to the speed that one would have gone down the water slide.

Then the bubble seemed to be traveling to the vortex at the speed of a roller coaster. Seto was very frightened. What would happen when the bubble penetrated the vortex.

Finally, the bubble passed through the vortex. On the other side, Seto saw a bunch of black and purple, billowing clouds. He reached over to touch one of the clouds and saw that the bubble had disappeared. The clouds immediately by him began to disappear, and he saw blackness. He looked down and saw that he was not standing on anything; he was merely floating in space. Then he noticed more black clouds that were below him. The black clouds faded away and revealed an image of himself and Mokuba eight years younger. They were sitting across from each other looking down at the space in between them. Seto saw that there was some sort of board in between the younger version of himself and Mokuba with two rows of black pieces on Mokuba's side and two rows of white pieces on his side.

"What's this?" Seto asked. It seemed that the two people in the clouds were playing a board game, but he couldn't tell what it was. "Hello?" he shouted to the two figures. But they could not hear him.

Then he saw the two figures moving the black and white pieces across the board and realized they were playing chess. The younger Seto looked like he was getting tired and making his moves in a haphazard way.

Then Seto realized he was viewing a day from his past. "Oh great!" Seto muttered. "The day my brother finally beat me in chess."

"Checkmate!" said Seto.

Mokuba giggled. "You win again, big brother.

The two Kaiba brothers then reset their pieces back on the board. This time, it looked like Seto was so exhausted that he couldn't concentrate on any of his moves. He kept moving his knight in a straight path instead of a normal L-shape. Mokuba had to correct him a few times.

Then the little Seto moved one of his pawns forward one space and put his head down.

"Checkmate!" yelled Mokuba. That got Seto energized. He looked at the board and saw that Mokuba had indeed checkmated him. Mokuba had moved his queen to the space that was immediately in front of Seto's king. Seto could not move his king backward since it was on a square that was on one of the edges. Nor could he move his king forward to attack the queen since it was being guarded by a bishop. And he had no other pieces that were in a position to attack the queen. Seto was stunned by his brother's feat but also very happy for him.

"Congratulations, Mokuba. You see, I told you that if you just concentrate hard enough you could beat me." The young Seto shook Mokuba's hand and the two laughed playfully.

Big Seto was still watching them from afar. He saw a door open from within the clouds. It was Gozaburo Kaiba dressed in his fancy, red suit. _I can't bear to watch what's going to happen next!_ He remembered this day all too well. It was one of the worst days he had ever experienced.

"How's your study break going, Seto?" Gozaburo asked little Seto.

"It's going great," he replied.

Then Gozaburo's eyes darted toward the chess board. "Were you white?" Gozaburo asked Seto.

"Yeah."

Gozaburo's demeanor changed when he saw that Mokuba had accomplished something he never could: put Seto in checkmate.

"I…told…you…_**TO GO STUDY!**_" Gozaburo raised his hand and smacked Seto on his face.

The little Seto was badly bruised but held in his tears. "But you told me I could have a study break. You even asked me how my study break was going."

"So now you're arguing with me? You know what that means. Bend down." Gozaburo took off his belt and whacked Seto's behind with it a few times. Little Mokuba was crying from seeing his brother get hurt by Gozaburo.

"Someone get me out of here!" yelled Seto watching the painful image from his past.


	14. Making Plans for Egypt

**Making Plans for Egypt**

Still in the Shadow Realm…

Eventually Gozaburo's beatings of Seto stopped. What pained Seto the most about this past experience was not his own physical wounds but the pain he saw in Mokuba's face.

"Now go back to your room and study. And don't come out until supper time."

Little Seto dashed out of the room, leaving Gozaburo and Mokuba inside. Gozaburo turned to Seto's little brother and smiled. "So, Mokuba, how about a game of chess?"

Part of Mokuba wanted to scold Gozaburo for the beatings he had inflicted on Seto. The other part of him was intimidated by a man much larger than himself. Not wanting any beatings inflicted upon him, he turned to his step-father and tried to force a cheerful tone. "Okay," he replied still in tears. Gozaburo set up the chess board and let Mokuba make the first move.

After Mokuba's first move, the clouds reappeared, covering the two players.

Back at the Kaiba Dome…

Everyone in the audience was still seated and being very loud. They were still stunned by the fact that Seto's body had morphed into a hideous creature and then morphed back into his normal body.

"Well we should probably take Kaiba-boy's body to the hospital," said Pegasus. "Someone help me pick him up." Joey Wheeler bent down and helped Pegasus carry Seto's body outside of the dueling arena. "I took my limousine here. We can probably place him in there. Croquet can drive him to the nearest hospital. You all should probably follow me so we can make arrangements for going to Egypt."

"Agreed," replied Yugi.

"I must go now. I will reappear once you have uncovered the Millennium Key. Then I will take you all to the Shadow Realm where Kaiba is." Shadi then vanished with a puff of smoke.

At Domino City Hospital…

Later, Yugi, Tea, Tristan, Joey, Mai, Serenity, Duke, Bakura, Rebecca, Mokuba, Roland, Pegasus, and Croquet were all at the hospital. The doctors were able to get Seto's body to a hospital room right away. Pegasus was in the room talking with the doctors while the others stayed in the waiting room.

"I'm gonna call my grandpa while we're waiting for Pegasus to finish talking to the doctors," said Rebecca. Rebecca stepped outside the building to get better reception and called her grandpa Arthur.

"Hello?" answered Arthur.

"Grandpa, it's me, Rebecca."

"Hi, Rebecca. How did the duel go? Did Yugi win? I fell asleep so I didn't see what happened."

"Well, yes, Yugi won, but something terrible happened."

"Well tell me."

"During the duel, Seto activated the Seal of Orichalcos card. Then it transformed him into a hideous monster. After Yugi defeated the monster, it changed back into Seto. Then this ghost named Shadi appeared and explained that Seto's soul was taken to the Shadow Realm. We've taken his body to a hospital and now Pegasus is talking to the doctors."

"Oh my! The Orichalcos card?" he asked in disbelief. "I thought that thing was gone for good. I wonder how he came to possess such a thing."

"Well during the duel, I heard him say something about taking his submarine all the way to the bottom of the ocean and then locating the temple where he dueled against Dartz. I'm not really sure how he found it since the ocean floor is a big place, but he did."

There was a brief pause. Then Rebecca continued. "Listen, here's the reason I called. The ghost named Shadi who appeared after the duel said that in order to save Kaiba's soul, we must retrieve the Millennium Key from the place it was buried. Will you come to Egypt with us?"

"Of course I will, Rebecca. Anything to help save your friend's soul." They then said goodbye to each other, and Rebecca walked back into the hospital.

Ten minutes passed and Pegasus stepped out of the room to deliver the news to the rest of the gang. "The doctors say he still alive, but his body is in a coma. They'll have to keep him here. When I get home, I'll go ahead and schedule our flight to Egypt. I'll pay for everyone's flight expenses. Croquet, I'll need you to stay at my mansion while I'm away. Is that okay?"

"Yes, sir. Of course it is," Croquet replied.

"Roland, I assume you intend to come. Yes?" asked Pegasus.

"Yes, sir. I do. After all, it is my sworn duty to protect Kaiba."

"All right. Now let's see. I'll need plane tickets for…" And then Pegasus's voice dropped to a low voice as he counted heads. "All right. I'll need 12 plane tickets."

"Actually, you'd better make that thirteen. My grandpa said he wants to come," said Rebecca.

"All right then 13 it is."

"You know, I think my grandpa might want to come too. Can I call him now?"

"Of course, Yugi-boy. Call your grandfather and see if he wants to come."

Yugi whipped out his cell phone and dialed his grandpa's number.

"Hello?" answered Grandpa Muto.

"Yes, Granpa, it's me, Yugi."

"Yugi! I saw what happened in the game on the TV at Game Shop. Poor Kaiba."

"Listen, Grandpa. After the duel, this ghost Shadi appeared and said there was a way we could rescue Kaiba. But we have to go to Egypt to retrieve the Millennium Key. Will you come with us."

"Absolutely. I'm tired of being around the Game Shop. I need an adventure."

"Pegasus is paying for our plane tickets."

"Excellent. I just hope we succeed in rescuing your friend Kaiba."

"So do I, Grandpa. So do I." Yugi hung up.

"Well, Grandpa says he wants to come, Pegasus."

"Then we'll need 14 plane tickets. I'll have to contact the Ishtars since they are the ones who know how to find the place where the Millennium Items were buried. I'll contact all of you once I have purchased our plane tickets. Let me get your phone numbers." Pegasus took down everyone's phone numbers. "I think we should all go home and get some sleep. Have a good night everyone."

Everyone departed and left the hospital building.

Back in the Shadow Realm…

Seto saw the clouds disappearing, revealing another image. He saw himself as a younger kid pouring over a history textbook in his room. The younger version of himself had a black eye.

"Oh, brother," muttered Seto. "Not another image from my past."

Just then, little Seto heard someone knocking on his door. "Come in," he answered.

Gozaburo entered the room. "There you are. I see you are hard at work on your studies. Just remember what happens when you don't study." Gozaburo started to walk outside of the room and close the door, but then paused and turned back to Seto. "Oh! You'll be happy to know that I beat Mokuba in chess yesterday," he stated as if he had somehow proven his superiority over Seto by beating the person who beat Seto in chess.

"That's great, Pops," little Seto replied not really giving a damn about Gozaburo's mundane accomplishment.


	15. Flight toward Egypt

**Flight toward Egypt**

**Author's note: **By my count, we have 14 people going to Egypt: Yugi, Tea, Tristan, Duke, Joey, Mai, Serenity, Bakura, Rebecca, Arthur, Solomon, Pegasus, Mokuba, and Roland.

DOMINO CITY HOSPITAL

Where was Ghost Kaiba all this time? He was inside the body of Seto Kaiba. He could see the doctors monitoring Seto's heart rate.

"If we keep him hooked up to this life-support system, he should be fine," he heard one of the doctor's say.

_I was lucky the Seal of Orichalcos captured Seto's soul and not mine. As soon as Seto's body wakes up from this coma, I'll be able to take control of his body and send many more souls to the Shadow Realm with the Orichalcos card. I wonder what Seto's little friends are up to?_

While the doctor's were monitoring Seto's heart rate, Ghost Kaiba floated out of Seto's body and into the waiting room where the rest of the gang was. He could overhear Pegasus talking about taking everyone to Egypt to retrieve the Millennium Key and enter the Shadow Realm where Seto's soul was.

_Hmmm… So someone has revealed to them the secret of how to rescue Seto's soul from the Shadow Realm. I'll be sure to put a stop to this. _

DOMINO CITY AIRPORT

"Well, we're here, guys," said Yugi Muto as he stepped out of the car and into the airport building along with Tea and Grandpa. Yugi lugged two heavy suitcases while Tea only carried one as they stepped into a waiting area.

"Yoo hoo!" they all heard a guy with a Brooklyn accent yell.

"Joey! What's going on?" said Yugi. Joey was standing by Tristan, Serenity, and Mai.

"Not much, man. We all drove in Mai's convertible."

As Yugi was chatting it up with Joey, he almost fell over as something suddenly grabbed him and stayed clinging to him.

"My Yugi-poo," said Rebecca who was the one clinging to him.

"Hey, Rebecca. It's good to see you too," Yugi blushed.

"It's good to see you again, Solomon," Yugi heard Arthur say to his grandpa.

"Yes, I don't think we've had an adventure like this since we got trapped inside that tomb."

"Yes, it has been some years," replied Arthur. "I look forward to this trip. I think we have almost everyone."

"Don't forget about us," yelled Mokuba who was accompanied by Roland, Duke, and Bakura.

"Great! Now everyone's here except for Pegasus."

"Greetings!" they all heard a voice say. Everyone looked up and saw that it was Pegasus. "Good news, everyone," said Pegasus. "I've talked to the airlines. They are letting us fly my own charter plane. So we'll have the flight to ourselves."

"Awesome!" said Tristan.

"I've also got into contact with the Ishtars. They said they will lead us to the place where the Millennium Items were buried."

Just then they say a charter plane with a cartoon bunny on the side. "That's us," said Pegasus as the plane landed. "All aboard, everyone," yelled Pegasus as everyone got on the private plane.

"Yeah! Egypt, here we come!" yelled Joey Wheeler.

_I'll be sure to put a stop to their little trip_, Ghost Kaiba thought evilly as he floated inside the plane unnoticed.

**Author's note:** I was trying to decide what powers Ghost Kaiba should have and what his limitations should be. I came up with the following. He can inhabit the body of a person whose heart is filled with darkness. If that person's soul is out of his body but still physically alive, then he can control that body. As a spirit, he can float out of a person's body and travel anywhere in the world. However, he cannot have any influence on the real world unless he is physically close to an object with mystical powers such as the Orichalcos card or one of the seven Millennium Items.


	16. Arriving at the Hotel

**Arriving at the Hotel**

Pegasus's airplane was now flying over the Atlantic Ocean. They had taken off three hours ago from Domino City in California and had passed the east coast an hour ago. There was no land in their sight. No one had said a word since they boarded the plane. Perhaps they were all thinking about the severity of the situation they were in. Mokuba was looking out a window, hoping they would get there soon.

About two hours later, they passed over some land. Mokuba waited half an hour and then approached Pegasus. "Are we almost there?" he asked.

"We're over Libya right now. So it shouldn't be much longer."

About 45 minutes later, their plane landed at the Cairo airport.

"Finally!" Joey said in relief as they stepped out of the plane.

When they stepped into the airport center, Pegasus pulled out his cell phone and dialed the Ishtars.

"Hello," said a voice on the other end.

"Marik, it's Pegasus. We've just landed at the airport."

"Great! We'll come pick you up and give you a ride to your hotel right now."

Ten minutes later, the entire group saw Ishizu, Marik, and Odion wandering around the airport center.

"Marik! Over here!" yelled Yugi. The Ishtars turned their heads toward the gang.

"Yugi, it's been a while," replied Marik. "Let us help you carry your belongings."

Ishizu, Marik, and Odion all grabbed some suitcases and carried them to the cars. The three had driven separate cars so they could fit everyone. Ishizu had Pegasus, Joey, Mai Serenity, and Tristan in her car. Marik had Yugi, Tea, Duke, Bakura, and Rebecca in his car. Odion had Roland, Arthur, Solomon, and Mokuba in his car. They followed each other with Ishizu in the lead followed by Marik and then Odion. Tall buildings surrounded them on either side of the street.

"So, you said you needed us to drive you to the place where the Millennium Items were buried. What for?" Ishizu asked Pegasus.

"It's a long story, but it has something to do with the duel between Seto Kaiba and Yugi Muto."

"They were in a duel recently?" asked Ishizu.

"Yes," responded Pegasus. "Seto wanted to reclaim his world championship status so badly that he decided to challenge Yugi Muto to a duel. Then, during the duel, Seto activated the Seal of Orichalcos card."

"The Seal of Orichalcos! I thought that thing had been destroyed for good."

"That is what I thought as well. But then I was contacted by Mokuba through my webcam. Apparently he had taken his submarine all the way to the bottom of the ocean to find the building where he and the Pharaoh dueled against Dartz. Inside the temple, there was a pocket of air that allowed him to get out of the submarine and swim through the temple. He swam into the room of the temple where he had dueled Dartz and found the Orichalcos card. While we were at the Domino City airport, Mokuba told me he had almost gotten eaten by sharks on his way down there."

"Oh my!" exclaimed Ishizu. "That does seem desparate."

"Yes, indeed," replied Pegasus. "Anyway, during the duel, he activated the card and then turned into a hideous creature. Yugi defeated the creature who then transformed back into Seto Kaiba. But he was unconscious. After the duel, we were visited by a spirit named Shadi who said that Seto's soul was in the Shadow Realm. He then went on to say that the only way to save him was to recover the Millennium Key which apparently has the power to release one's soul from the Shadow Realm."

"Well, we will take you there, but it will be very difficult to uncover. I imagine you all want to just rest tonight because of the long plane ride, but we'll be sure to pick you guys up tomorrow. Just let us know when."

"It'll probably be very early tomorrow. Can you do that?"

"Of course," replied Ishizu.

By the time they had finished their conversation, they had arrived at the hotel. Odion, Ishizu, and Marik helped them unload their belongings.

"We're here!" announced Maximillion Pegasus as they stepped into the hotel lobby.

"I'm going straight to the buffet." Joey started to make a run for the cafeteria area, but then Pegasus grabbed him by the collar.

"Hold it right there," said Pegasus.

"Awww, but I'm hungry now," complained Joey.

"I want to make an announcement to everyone first." Pegasus then turned his attention to the entire group. "Everyone, we will be waking up really early tomorrow. So be sure to get a good night's sleep. The Ishtars will be here to pick us up." Then he turned to Ishizu. "Is 8 AM okay?"

"Yes, we can be here by then," replied Ishizu.

"Good. We'll see you all tomorrow then. Now let's all go get our keys to our rooms and put our belongings away so we can go eat." With that, Pegasus went to the receptionist to get everyone's keys while the Ishtars took off.

Arthur and Solomon stayed in one room. Yugi, Joey and Bakura stayed in one room. Duke and Tristan stayed in one room. Tea, Mai and Serenity stayed in one room. Rebecca, Mokuba and Roland shared a room. Pegasus stayed in a room by himself.

As soon as Joey had put his suitcase in his room, he said, "Well, I'm off to the buffet. See ya!"

"Wait, Joey," cried Yugi. But Joey was already halfway downstairs.

When Joey had gotten to the dining area, he saw that Tristan was already there on the opposite side of the line. Tristan had already helped himself to some fish, string beans, and chocolate ice cream. Joey had grabbed some crab cakes, mashed potatoes, a pork chop, and some jello. They became closer to each other. There was one piece of steak left.

"I think I'll take that," said Tristan. But then Joey swiped it from him.

"It's mine now, sucker," replied Joey.

"Give it back, Joey," yelled Tristan. Tristan grabbed the steak from Joey's plate, and then Joey grabbed it. Both held on to it, tugging it back and forth.

"Stop fighting, you two. You're embarrassing us," yelled a voice. Both boys turned and saw Pegasus standing before them. "The entire restaurant is staring at you two."

"Sorry, Pegasus," said Joey.

"Yeah, me too," said Tristan. "We'll be good."

"Good. I believe Tristan had it first." Pegasus picked up the steak with his fork and put it on Tristan's plate.

"In your face, Joey."

"Argh!" groaned Joey.

THE SHADOW REALM

Seto was still floating around in the Shadow Realm when he saw some dark clouds reveal another image from his past. It showed little Seto walking back to the mansion.

"I remember this day," Seto said. "This is the day I took that computer science test for a competition."

Little Seto entered the mansion and was greeted by Gozaburo. "Well, Seto...how'd it go?"

"I did fine," little Seto replied. "I got second place."

"Second?" asked Gozaburo.

"Yeah, I think that kid Zigfried came in first."

"Second place to a Schroeder?" Gozaburo stated in disbelief. "We don't tolerate losing here, Seto. Especially not to our rivals, the Schroeders. I'm talking away all your Duel Monsters cards for two weeks."

"But you can't do this to me," whined little Seto. "I worked hard to study for that test."

"Not hard enough. You've been slacking in your studies. Otherwise, you would have come in first. Now go hit those books."

"But Mokuba and I had plans to go riding on the horses."

"Not anymore. Take him to his room." Gozaburo had one of his servants drag Seto to his room.

"Noooooo!" yelled little Seto, kicking and screaming.

BACK AT THE HOTEL

Everyone sat down at a large round table that was able to seat all 14 of them. Meanwhile, Ghost Kaiba, who had been on the plane and had followed them to the hotel, hovered over the table, unable to be detected by anyone sitting down.

_Enjoy your dinner, you fools. It will be your last._


	17. Finding the Old Dueling Site

**Finding the Old Dueling Site **

Everyone was fast asleep. At 6 AM, Pegasus woke up, got himself ready, and started knocking on everyone's doors.

"Come on, everyone," he said, first knocking on Solomon and Arthur's door. "It's time to get up." He then knocked on the door of the room with Mai, Serenity, and Tea. "We want to be sure to get our breakfast now so we can be ready when the Ishtars get here." He then knocked on the remaining three doors.

Yugi let out a huge yawn as he stretched out his arms and legs. He looked to his left and saw Bakura rubbing his eyes in the other bed. Bakura headed into the shower. He looked down at Joey who was sharing a bed with him. Joey was still fast asleep.

"Joey, we have to get up." But Joey turned his head into his pillow and started mumbling something. Yugi shook him a little, but it did no good. "If Joey doesn't wake up, he'll miss breakfast."

Yugi stepped outside and saw that Tristan was standing outside his room. "Hey, Tristan. What's up?"

"Not much. Duke beat me to the bathroom so I have to wait."

"Do you want to help me wake up Joey?"

"Sure. Why not?" Tristan stepped into the room and looked at the sleeping Joey. He put his face next to Joey's ear and yelled in it.

"Joey! Wake up! We have to go save Kaiba from the Shadow Realm!"

Joey, still in a dream state, connected his fist with Tristan's face. "Take that, Rich Boy. No one talks to my pal Yug that way."

"Geez! What's with him?" Tristan said rubbing his jaw.

"I don't know, but he sure is gonna be upset when the Ishtars are ready to go and he doesn't have time to eat. I think we should just go and get our breakfast. And then we can go shower."

They headed downstairs and grabbed a table with Pegasus, Arthur Hawkins, Bakura, Tea, Serenity, Rebecca, and Mokuba. The others, except for Joey, were showering.

"Just remember we have to leave at 8 AM sharp, everyone," Pegasus reminded them.

_Geez. I don't think Joey is going to have time to eat. I'd better do something,_ Yugi thought to himself.

When Mai, Solomon, Duke, Bakura, and Roland came down, all the others, except for Pegasus who had already showered, headed back upstairs to their rooms to get ready. It was about 7:20 AM so they had to move fast.

When everyone had finished showering and eating, the ones in the dining area headed back upstairs.

"That was some good breakfast," said Mai to Tea. "Where's Joey?"

"Oh, I don't think he ever woke up."

"Well, he'll have to wake up soon, or else he'll miss the trip to that cavern."

Meanwhile, Ghost Kaiba, who had been watching them from the dining area, sat hovering outside the hotel room and saw Ishizu, Marik, and Odion pull into the parking lot.

_Good. Now all I have to do is wait outside and follow them._

Yugi had just finished dressing in the bathroom. When he stepped out, he saw Joey letting out a huge stretch. "Oh boy. I'm starving, but first I'm gonna go take a shower."

But then Yugi looked out the window and saw Marik, Odion, and Ishizu walking toward the building. "Uh, Joey? The Ishtars are here and ready to go. You won't have time for breakfast."

"What?!" Joey cried with his hands on his cheeks.

"Come on, Joey. We have to go," said Bakura as he and Yugi dragged him outside the room.

"Why didn't someone wake me up?"

"We tried several times," replied Tristan who was walking by them. "You punched me in the face, remember?"

"No, I don't." They reached the bottom of the stairs and the lobby where Pegasus awaited them. "I want my breakfast," cried Joey.

"Well you should've woken up earlier," said Pegasus. "Now let's go." Pegasus had to drag Joey by his collar to the jeeps. Everyone seemed to be getting into the same jeep as last time. But then Yugi stepped out of Marik's car and approached the one Ishizu was about to drive. He tapped Mai Valentine on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, Mai."

"Yes, Yugi?"

"Would you mind trading places with me?"

"Certainly."

THE SHADOW REALM

Seto saw another image from his past. This time, the image did not show him as a little boy. He saw himself on a dueling platform. On the other side was another dueling platform. Standing there was none other than Yugi Muto. On the field, Seto had three Blue-Eyes White Dragons.

"I can't watch this," he said to himself, immediately recognizing what part of his life this was from. Seto tried to close his eyes so he would not have to look at the painful image from his past. However, it seemed that there was a force inside the Shadow Realm forcing him to keep his eyes open.

"Draw your last pathetic card so I can end this, Yugi!" yelled the Seto from the image.

"My grandpa's deck has no pathetic cards, Kaiba. But it does contain the unstoppable Exodia."

"Ahh! Impossible!"

"I've assembled all five special cards, all five pieces of the puzzle."

"Exodia! It's not possible. No one's ever been able to call him."

Then a huge creature with the headdress of a pharaoh and chains wrapped around its limbs emerged from a portal.

"Exodia! Obliterate!" The monster released a fireball from the palms of his hands and obliterated all three of Seto's Blue-Eyes White Dragons.

Seto was fuming with rage as he rewatched his first defeat ever in a game of Duel Monsters. "YUGI!"

ON THE DESERT ROAD

"Oh," Joey pouted while Ishizu was starting the ignition.

"Cheer up, Joey. I figured you wouldn't wake up in time so I packed some food for you." Yugi handed Joey a brown paper bag. In it were a ham sandwich, some grapes, a blueberry muffin, and a bagel.

"Geez, Yug. Thanks! You're the best pal I guy like me could have."

About twenty minutes later, they had gotten out of the city and saw nothing but desert for miles. Ishizu was leading them like the last time followed by Marik and then Odion. Another hour later, they saw some cliffs in the distance.

"We're almost there," Ishizu said to everyone in the car. There appeared to be a small passageway between two of the cliffs. Ishizu lead them through this passageway. After another ten minutes of driving, they reached another cliff, marking the end of the passage. There was a stairway built into the ground by this cliff. Ishizu, Marik, and Odion all parked their jeeps by the stairway. All the passengers stepped out of their respective vehicles. "Follow me," said Ishizu. The group followed Ishizu and began descending the stairs but found that it was blocked by the rubble from when it had collapsed after the ritual duel.

"Unfortunately, we won't be able to enter the tomb the way we did when we returned the Millennium Items," said Marik. "However, there is another way to get down there." Marik paused for a moment and then continued. "We will have to enter that pyramid over there." And then Marik pointed to a pyramid about a mile away. "There is a passageway underneath the pyramid that will also lead to the tomb."

"I'll let you lead the way this time, brother," Ishizu said to Marik as they all hopped back into the jeeps.

Ghost Kaiba, who had been hovering above the three cars while they were driving and listening in on their conversation, watched as the Ishtars all started the engines of their jeeps and drove off into the distance. _They may not be able to enter the tomb that way, but I can_. Ghost Kaiba floated down the stairs and moved between the cracks that were blocking the entrance. When he got past all the rubble, he saw a room filled with broken pillars and stones. He saw that the resting place for the seven Millennium Items had become like a giant well. He floated into the hole all the way to the bottom and found the seven items.

_Excellent. Now that I have found the items, I can use my magic powers to monitor their every moment and prevent them from ever reaching here in the first place. _

He floated back to the top of the hole and stared deep into the circular area. He waved his hand around the large circle and created an image that showed the Ishtars taking Yugi and his gang to the pyramid.

"Okay, we're here," he saw Marik yell to the rest of the gang. "Follow me." Marik led them to the inside of the pyramid.

_Enjoy your trip inside the pyramid. You won't make it out alive!_


	18. Entering the Pyramid

**Entering the Pyramid**

**Author's note: **I am providing a list of all the characters who are involved in the pyramid expedition. The list of characters is long, and some of you may have forgotten who exactly is involved.

Yugi

Joey

Tristan

Tea

Duke

Bakura

Mai

Serenity

Rebecca

Mokuba

Pegasus

Roland

Solomon Muto

Arthur Hawkins

Marik

Ishizu

Odion

The Ishtars parked their jeeps by the pyramid, and everyone stepped out of their vehicles. There was a ramp leading up to a doorway of the pyramid.

"It will be very dark inside," said Marik, "but we've packed enough flashlights for everyone to hold." Ishizu, Odion, and Marik all grabbed bags out of their jeeps and pulled out flashlights to be distributed to everyone. "Now follow me." Marik started up the ramp.

When they passed the threshold, they all turned on their flashlights in the pitch-black room. "A long time ago, this pyramid was filled with traps, but those should all be deactivated by now," said Ishizu.

Meanwhile, Ghost Kaiba was watching them enter the pyramid from the old dueling site through a portal. _That is what you think. But soon you will be proven wrong. Now it's time for them to meet their first surpise. _Ghost Kaiba raised his hands in the air and slammed them down into the ground.

After everyone had entered the pyramid, everyone heard a loud noise, and the light from the entrance was gone. Tristan ran back to the entrance. He pushed at the rubble blocking the entrance, but it wouldn't budge.

"We're trapped inside!" he yelled.

_That's right, you fool_, Ghost Kaiba thought to himself, watching them through the portal. _And soon you all will lose your only light source._

"Well we have to keep moving," said Marik. "This way."

Suddenly, everyone's flashlights started blinking.

"What's going on?" asked Pegasus.

Then the lights stopped blinking as the flashlights went completely out. "The batteries on all of those flashlights were completely new," said Marik. "That shouldn't have happened."

"Oh, that's creepy," Joey said with fear. "Our flashlights go out for no reason, and now we're stuck in the dark."

"Not quite," said Ishizu. "Look over there. There's a green light." In the not-too-far-off distance was a green sparkling light.

_Yes, walk over to that green sparkle_, Ghost Kaiba thought maniacally.

"I wonder what it could be," said Marik walking through the dark and pressing it. Then the room lit back up again. The green, shiny object was an emerald that had been embedded into the wall. They all looked up and saw that room was full of pillars that looked like snakes. The faces of these snakes at the top of the pillars were illuminated with fire, making every part of the giant room very bright. Marik remarked, "We have to move quickly. There's no telling how long those fires will last."

They walked down the room for about five minutes, and then Joey Wheeler sniffed the air. "I smell something," he said. He glanced up and saw that the fire making everything visible in the room was starting to trickle down the pillars. "Guys, I think we're in trouble."

Ishizu looked up and gasped when she saw what Joey was seeing. "Marik, we have to run for it. The ancient Egyptians who built this pyramid must have lined the cracks in those pillars with explosive powder." The fire started to spread more rapidly down the walls.

"Everyone, run!" yelled Marik. They dashed all the way to the other side of the room and crossed an arched doorway, entering another room.

THE SHADOW REALM

Seto saw some clouds swirling in the Shadow Realm. "Oh, great. Not another vision from my past." He saw the clouds disperse to reveal an image of Gozaburo walking into his mansion with little Mokuba and little Seto. "I remember this day. This was our first day at the mansion."

"Welcome to your new home, kids," Gozaburo said to little Mokuba and little Seto. "Let me lay out the rules. Curfew is at 9 PM. So you must be in your rooms and in bed by 9 PM unless you are studying in which case you must either do so in your room or in the library. Secondly, you may only take breaks when I say so. Otherwise, you are to be studying. Thirdly, you will only eat when I say so, and you are to eat only in the kitchen. Never are you to bring food into another room. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes," both replied.

"Good. You may both head to your rooms." Little Mokuba and little Seto started to head upstairs, but then Gozaburo grabbed little Seto's shoulder. "Hold on there, Junior. I have a score to settle with you. How about a rematch?"

"A rematch in chess?" asked little Seto. "Are you going to unadopt us if I lose?"

"Of course not. I just want a friendly rematch. That's all."

"I remember this. Gozaburo was so humiliated about being defeated by a mere kid that he kept challenging me to a rematch until he won."

Gozaburo set up the pieces. Gozaburo was black and little Seto was white. Seto won the first match. Gozaburo tried unsuccessfully to stifle a growl and said "How about we switch colors?"

"Okay." They reset the pieces with Seto being black this time and Gozaburo being white. To Gozaburo's chagrin, Seto won again. "Rrrrr," he growled again. They played 7 more games alternating colors with Seto winning each of those matches.

"How about another game?" asked Gozaburo.

"Mr. Kaiba, I'm getting a little tired. Can I go do something else for a while?"

"No, you may not."

Seto realized that Gozaburo was going to keep challenging him until he won. So on their 10th and final match, Seto let Gozaburo win.

"Checkmate, Seto. It looks like I am still the true champion after all," Gozaburo declared. However, Seto realized that Gozaburo knew Seto let him win.

BACK INSIDE THE PYRAMID

The other room was very dark. On the left and right walls were two snake faces with fires burning in them.

"Well at least there aren't any flames spreading on the walls in this room," said Joey. Ahead of them was a huge seemingly bottomless chasm separating the entrance of the room with its exit. There was a row of five large tiles connected to the floor on their side of the room and five more rows that were supported by these pillars that were mostly lost in the darkness of the hole. Each row of stones, except for the last row which was connected to the floor on the other side of the room, was followed by five ropes for getting over to the next row.

"Well, thank god we're safe from that fire in the other room," said Yugi stepping on one of the tiles. "Ahhhh!" he exclaimed as several spikes shot out from the tile nearly impaling him. Yugi fell backwards breathing heavily as the spikes receded back into the tile. "Great! Now how are we supposed to get across to the other side?"

Tristan looked back into the previous room and saw the fire trickling along the ground toward them slowly. "I don't know, but we'd better hurry up and figure it out. That fire's gaining on us."

They all looked around the room, and Grandpa saw an inscription written in hieroglyphics by the archway. "Everyone, look. It appears to be some riddle to navigate this maze." Grandpa read the hieroglyphics. "Let's see. It says 'To cross the path, step on the monster that is victorious in battle. If the battle is a draw, step on the square in between them.' But that doesn't make any sense. What monsters are they referring to?"

"I'm not sure. I don't see any carvings of monsters on these stones," Yugi said peering over the first row tiles from a safe distance. But then Yugi looked back at the hieroglyphic message and saw something to the side of it. "Look, Grandpa. There's something over to the side of this message." To the side of the message in hieroglyphics was a square with 6 rows of 5 smaller squares and a space between each row. There were pictures of monsters on some of the blocks still in remarkably good shape despite being thousands of years old. "These must be the monsters the riddle is referring to, but I only recognize some of the monsters on the carving, not all of them."

"Let me take a look. Since I created the game, I have the attack and defense points of every single monster memorized," said Pegasus. Pegasus came over and put his face toward the picture Yugi was looking at. "Everyone, pay attention to me. I think I know the answer to this riddle." Everyone turned their attention toward Pegasus. "There are six rows with each row having two monsters and a space between them. In the first row are the Man-Eater Bug and Mystic Horseman. The Man-Eater Bug has 450 attack points and the Mystic Horseman has 1300 attack points. So the Mystic Horseman would win. Since the Man-Eater Bug is in the third square and the Mystic Horseman is in the fifth square that means we have to step on the fifth tile."

"Hold on. Are you sure that that's the answer to the riddle?" asked Joey.

"Well," said Pegasus addressing Joey and then turning toward Solomon, "are you sure you read the hieroglyphics correctly, Solomon?"

"Yes, he is correct," said Marik taking a look at the hieroglyphics himself. "As Ishtars, we were taught to read hieroglyphics at an early age. So Mr. Muto is right. Please continue, Pegasus."

"Now in the second row is Battle Ox and Saggi the Dark Clown. Since Battle Ox has 1700 attack points and Saggi has 600, the Battle Ox would win. Since Battle Ox occupies the fourth square and Saggi occupies the second, we must step on the fourth square of the second row. Does everyone follow this so far?"

Everyone nodded.

"In the third row, we have Diabound Kernel with 1800 attack points and Shadow Ghoul with 1600 attack points so Diabound Kernel would win. Now Diabound Kernel is in the second square of that row so we want to step on that square. In the fourth row, we have Winged Sage Falcos on the second square and Battle Ox on the fourth square, both with 1700 attack points. That battle would be a tie so you should step on the third square. In the fifth row, we have the Blue-Eyes White Dragon on the first square and Wicked Worm Beast on the third square. Blue-Eyes has 3000 attack points while the Wicked Worm Beast has 1400. Thus Blue-Eyes would win so you would want to step on the first square of that row. In the sixth row, we have Obelisk the Tormentor on the fifth square and Winged Sage Falcos on the third square. Obelisk would win that fight so you would step on the fifth square of that row. And that's the end."

"I have just one question, Pegasus," said Duke. "You didn't invent the game of Duel Monsters until thousands of years after the people who built this pyramid set up this trap. So just because one monster is stronger than another in Duel Monsters doesn't mean that it was the same way back in ancient Egypt. So how do you know those are the correct stones to step on?"

"Good question, Duke. When I created the game of Duel Monsters, I did extensive research on ancient Egypt. I based the attack strength of the monsters on the strength of the duel spirits ancient Egyptians used to summon. Now we must hurry. The fire is coming closer to us, and there are seventeen of us that have to cross that chasm."

"So the order is 5, then 4, and then what?" asked Tea.

"That was a lot to take in so I'll repeat. The order is 5, then 4, then 2, then 3, then 1, and then 5. I'll go last so I can repeat the order if necessary."

"Great, I'll go first," yelled Joey. Joey slowly approached the fifth tile of the first row. Joey started sweating. He slowly slid his foot on the tile. When he saw his entire foot was on the tile and no spikes had risen up, he put his entire body on the tile, and grabbed the rope in front of him to swing to the next row of tiles.

"Four is next, right Pegasus?"

"Yes. Now go. Time is running short."

"I'll go next," said Yugi who hopped on the fifth tile of the first row as Joey got on one of the ropes and swung over to the fourth square of the next row.

"Two is next, Joey," Yugi yelled as he swung over to the fourth tile of the next row.

"I'll go next," yelled Tristan stepping on the fifth tile of the first row and then hopping on the rope to swing toward the square Yugi was leaving.

"Three is next, Joey," yelled Yugi swinging over to square two of the third row. Mai then began her journey across the chasm as the other three were finishing up.

Pretty soon, Yugi and Joey were both standing on the third square of the fourth row. "Now square one, Joey." Joey swung over to the first square of the second-to-last row. "And then the fifth square Joey." Joey tried to swing from the first square of the fifth row to the fifth square of the sixth row but found it was harder than it seemed.

"Yug, I can't reach!"

"Swing from that rope to another," Yugi called back. Joey did as Yugi told him and Yugi hopped onto a rope. Joey lost his rhythm when switching ropes, and pushed off one of the tiles of the previous row. As Tristan was swinging over to that row, spikes shot out from every single tile in that row.

"Yahhhhh!" yelled Tristan, trying to stop himself from swinging over to that row. He hung in midair until the spikes receded back into the ground.

"Try not to kick off the squares," yelled Pegasus.

_Wow! If I had left that square a split second later, I would have been killed by those spikes for sure_, Yugi thought to himself.

After Yugi, Joey, Tirstan, and Mai had made it all the way to the other side, Arthur was next to cross the path with Rebecca hanging on his back. Serenity, Duke, and Bakura were next.

Suddenly there was a loud bang coming from the previous room. Tea looked back and saw the entire room was now completely on fire and one of the pillars. The fire started trickling into their room. "Guys! We need to hurry!" she yelled.

Roland went next with Mokuba clinging to his back.

"You should go next, Tea," said Marik. Tea was able to get to the other side with ease by using her athletic ability. Marik and Ishizu followed Tea.

The fire started spreading along the walls of the room they were in. "You should go next," Odion said to Solomon Muto.

"Right. And the order is 5, 4, 2, 3, 1, 5. Correct?"

"Yes," replied Pegasus as Grandpa started across the chasm. Odion followed him immediately.

"Hurry, Pegasus," yelled Odion.

"Right," he replied. "5, 4, 2, 3, 1, 5," he murmured to himself. He started sweating from the heat of the flames. "Here I go," he said starting on square 5 of the first row. When Pegasus reached the third row, he turned back and saw that the entrance to that room was completely on fire. Pegasus made it safely across the other rows and to the other side.

Ghost Kaiba cursed as he saw the entire gang make it to safety. _They may have escaped that trap, but they will not get past the next thing I have in store for them._

**Author's note: **It took me a while to figure out how this trap was going to work. I at first thought the rows would be connected to form a single floor. I had the idea they would have to step on the tiles in a certain order, but I decided against that. I would like to give a small amount of credit to Peach Wookiee who suggested that the tiles should have symbols on them. I then decided that the symbols should be sketched on the wall by the riddle instead of on the tiles themselves. I then decided the symbols should be monsters from the game of Duel Monsters.

I realize that this is very late in the story, but what do you guys think is a better title for the story: Shadow Gambit or Battling the Shadows? Should I change the title to Battling the Shadows or keep the title as it is? Please let me know your answer in the reviews.


	19. Snakes and Mummies

**Snakes and Mummies**

**Author's note: I decided to keep the title the same since there were no requests to change it. I'd like to give a quick thank you to Agent of the Divine One and Aaerial15 for volunteering to look over this chapter. Also I made a minor change to chapter 2.**

Pegasus gave a heavy sigh as he safely crossed over from the last set of tiles to the floor. "Well, that was certainly a close one," he said as he saw the entrance to the room was completely on fire.

"Yeah, thank god that fire's not spreading all over the walls and to this side of the room," said Joey.

"Follow me into the next room," said Marik. Marik was in the lead followed immediately by Yugi and Joey, then by the other two Ishtars, and then by everyone else. The gang started walking on a ramp with a slightly upward slant.

As they were walking, Joey tapped Yugi on the shoulder. "Yug, I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

"Why, Joey?"

"Well, if you hadn't jumped in time I could've nearly killed you. I pushed off those tiles, and made all those spikes rise out of the ground."

"Well, it's true I could've been impaled if I hadn't jumped in time, but you couldn't have known, Joey. So don't worry about it."

Ghost Kaiba continued to watch them from the well where the seven Millenium Items had been placed. _Well I may not have a trap to activate for them yet, but I think what they're about to face should take care of them._

The ground they were walking on stopped slanting upward and became flat. Before they could make out anything in the room, they were hit with a putrid smell. They saw walls with snake faces high up and fires burning in them, lighting up the room somewhat. It was still very dark so they could only make out a few things. To their left was a giant pit. To their right below the snake face were figures of ancient Egyptians carved into the walls. Each figure had a mouth shaped almost like a perfect circle. The carvings were spread the same distance apart.

Suddenly, the people in the front of the group heard a hiss and saw something slithering along the ground and fall into the pit. "SNNNAKE!" yelled Tea as she fell down off the pathway and hung on to the edge. Odion and Tristan pulled her back up.

"That was a close one," Tristan commented. Then Tristan's face became filled with fear as he looked down. "Yaaahhh!" he screamed. The entire pit was covered in snakes.

Yugi saw a few snakes slither out of the mouths of the figures carved into the wall on their right. "I think I know where those snakes are coming from," he announced.

"Where, Yugi?" asked Joey.

"You see those mouths on those statues?" Joey nodded as Yugi pointed to them. "Well I bet the snakes that are in the pit have some holes they can slither through and that those holes lead to the mouths of those figures."

"Don't move, everyone," said Marik putting his arm in front of Yugi. Up ahead was a giant fierce-looking king cobra swaying back and forth. The room was dark enough to where it was difficult for them to see it.

"Lucky for us, I always come prepared," said Odion pulling a knife out of a pocket sheath hanging from his waist. He took off his shirt and threw it on the king cobra's face so it couldn't see them. Odion grabbed the king cobra and wrestled with it for a bit. After a bit of struggling, Odion managed to find its head and stepped on it. He then brought his knife down on the king cobra right below its head. The snake's blood spilled on the stones of the pyramid and got soaked up in Odion's shirt. Odion grabbed his shirt with the slain beast wrapped in it and threw it down into the pit.

"We're safe from the king cobra now. Master Marik, please lead the way."

"Ahhh!" yelled Serenity. A snake slithered past Serenity and fell into the pit. There was blood gushing out of Serenity's right ankle.

"She's been bit," said Tristan. "I'll get the poison out of her." Tristan grabbed her right foot and was about to start sucking the poison out of the wound, but then Pegasus grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him away.

"Don't do that, you idiot!" yelled Pegasus.

"Why not?" demanded Tristan. "I was just trying to get the poison out of her."

"Do you realize that if you tried that, not only would you not get the poison out of her, but you would have ingested the poison yourself? We will get her to a hospital as soon as we get out of this pyramid."

"We'll need to wrap a bandage around that wound," said Marik. "I have just what we need here." Marik pulled out some gauze from his jacket and wrapped it around Serenity's ankle. "We will have to move quickly so we can get her to a hospital as soon as possible."

"I'll carry her the rest of the way," said Odion picking her up and holding her in his arms.

**(Author's note: You might remember the episode when Mahad was bitten by a snake and Atem tried to suck the snake poison out of Mahad's wound. I did a google search, and according to what I found, this is generally not recommended.)**

THE SHADOW REALM

Seto saw more clouds coming up to reveal another image. It showed the backs of Noah and Mokuba Kaiba. This time the Mokuba he was seeing was closer to his current age. Noah turned around and said, "Hello, Seto."

"Wait! You can see me?" he asked startled. This was the first time he had experienced someone from one of his Shadow Realm visions talking to him.

"That's right. And Mokuba has something to say to you."

"I found out about what you did to me, Seto," he said robotically. "You are not my true brother. Noah is."

Seto realized this was supposed to remind him of the time in the cyber world when Noah brainwashed Mokuba. "Noah, you brat! Whatever you did to my little brother, you'd better undo. You've got that?" threatened Seto.

"I didn't do a thing. All I did was expose him to the truth," Noah countered.

"Noah is the only one I can trust," Mokuba said monotonically.

"Snap out of it, Mokuba. Noah is just trying to brainwash you. Can't you see that?"

"No, he's not, you jerk" he snapped back sharply. This time his response was full of emotion and not robotic. "I know about what you did to me."

"What I did to you? What do you mean?" asked Seto.

"You told Gozaburo that the big 5 were buying shares of KaibaCorp and that they wanted to take over the company. When the big 5 found out someone had leaked their plan to Gozaburo, you told them it was me who leaked the information, but it was you."

"Mokuba, I…Look. I know I haven't always been a perfect big brother, but I have always cared for you. Everything I did I did so we could have a better life." However, Mokuba still had a look of hatred on his face.

"Well, have you ever cared for anyone else?" Mokuba shot back.

"What do you mean?" asked Seto.

"You didn't really care about saving Tea from those Rare Hunters, did you? You only saved her because you felt obligated to. And you didn't care about whether Yugi's friends or Roland had any way of making it safely off the Battle City island."

"What?" asked Seto.

"Does this sound familiar, Seto?" asked Noah. "Like an argument you all had the night before you faced Yugi Muto in a duel?"

Seto looked stunned. How could Noah possibly know about any of this?

"And perhaps this will ring a bell." Noah pulled something out of his pocket. It looked like a crumpled up piece of paper.

"What are you doing?" asked Seto.

"Does this look familiar?" Noah flipped over the piece of paper he had pulled from his pocket.

"That's the picture of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon Mokuba made for me when we were kids living in Gozaburo's mansion."

Noah handed it to Mokuba. "I know all about you ripping up the drawing I made for you after our fight thanks to Noah. Well now it's my turn." Mokuba ripped up the drawing right before Seto's eyes and stomped on it.

Seto managed to hold back his tears. "Mokuba, please! I was just caught up in the moment," he tried to explain.

But Mokuba did not stop. Instead, he formed a huge, evil grin on his face. "By the way, I'm glad the Orichalcos captured your soul. You deserve to be trapped here." Then Noah and Mokuba began to drift away slowly into the darkness of the Shadow Realm.

"Mokuba, come back. I'm sorry," Seto pleaded desperately.

"Too little, too late," Noah retorted as he and Mokuba kept drifting further away.

Mokuba's voice went back to its robotic form. "Noah is my one true brother." Then Noah and Mokuba pixilated into nothingness.

Seto couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. The people from this Shadow Realm vision actually interacted with him. Seto thought about what had just taken place for about fifteen minutes. "Look at me. I'm taking to imaginary people that just disappear. I'm losing it."

BACK INSIDE THE PYRAMID

After they had gotten past the king cobra, Marik lead them down the path into a dark tunnel. The tunnel was starting to slant downward. Suddenly, Marik felt himself sliding downward.

"Ahhhh!" he yelled, but then his voice was gone. The rest of the gang following him couldn't quite make out what happened so they didn't know what happened to him.

"Marik?" called Yugi loudly. But Yugi got no response. "I wonder what happened to… Ahhh!" Yugi felt himself fall forward. It seemed like he was sliding down an endless slide. Eventually, he hit the ground really hard on his bottom. "Ouch!" Yugi looked up and saw what looked like a chute above him. Marik was standing right by him. "Do you think the others will know it's safe to come down here?" asked Marik.

Suddenly, they heard someone screaming and saw Joey come tumbling down out of the chute. "Owww!" said Joey rubbing his behind.

"Joey, we have to tell the others to come down here," said Marik.

"Well, I guess there's only one way to let them know." Joey yelled really loudly into the chute. "Hey, everybody! It's safe to come down here." About thirty seconds passed, and no one else came down.

The three turned their heads around to get a view of the rest of the room. There was a wall a few feet to their right with sarcophagi lined up vertically along it throughout the entire room. The floor had gold coins, jewels and other sarcophagi scattered all over it. Stone pillars supported the ceiling above them throughout the entire room. The room seemed to extend infinitely to their left and ahead of them.

"This room must go on for miles," commented Yugi.

Ghost Kaiba watched over them with amusement. _If they think it is safe down there, they're about to be in for a little surprise._ Ghost Kaiba started chanting something.

Suddenly, all three of them heard a rattling noise. They saw one of the coffins along the wall start to vibrate. Joey started to tremble. Then the lid of the coffin burst open, but nothing came out.

Joey breathed a sigh of relief. "Well that was a close one. For a moment I thought some zombie corpse was gonna come running after us."

Then Yugi heard a groaning noise coming from behind them. He slowly turned around and was about to scream but was so overcome with fear that he couldn't even do that. He tapped Marik and Joey on their shoulders. "Guys…I think you might want to take a look at what's behind us."

Marik and Joey turned around and saw two mummies slowly approaching them. Marik grabbed a rod covered in jewels right beside him ready to bash the first mummy that tried to attack them. While their backs were turned toward the open coffin along the wall, the mummy that was inside of that coffin dashed out and grabbed Marik by his arms, knocking the rod out of his hands. Marik wrestled with the mummy as it tried to bite him. "This thing is so strong. I don't think I can take it down on my own."

Yugi and Joey turned toward Marik and the mummy. "Take this, ya walking corpse." Joey punched the mummy in the face, allowing Marik to break free. Then the two mummies that were previously walking slowly suddenly dashed toward them when all three of their backs were turned. One punched Joey in the back of his head, while the other banged Yugi on the top of his head. Marik grabbed the rod he was holding and smashed those two mummies across the face. Then the mummy that previously had a hold of Marik, got up and rammed Marik in the back. All three of them were on the ground badly bruised and backing away from the mummies.

"Yugi, I think we're done for," said Joey as the living rotting corpses had the three of them backed into a corner. One of them had picked up the rod Marik was holding and was about to smash one of them, but then the body of Odion with Serenity in his arms fell on top of that mummy, splitting it in half at its waist.

"Master Marik, what's going on?"

"Odion, look out," he cried. Odion looked behind and saw the other two mummies about to grab him. Odion picked up the rod that had been knocked out of Marik's hands and gave it a mighty swing that knocked the heads clean off the two monsters. Both of them staggered for a while and then fell down. Odion saw the mummy that was split in half was still crawling on the ground with its hands so he took his rod and smashed it on top of its head, knocking it off.

"What's going on up there, Sis?" Joey asked Serenity. "Why aren't the others down here yet?"

Odion answered Joey's question. "We weren't sure what happened to you, Yugi, and Marik. We were afraid to take another step forward because of the other traps we've already encountered. Then I slipped and fell down the slide." They heard more coffins start to rattle.

"We'd better hurry up and find some weapons to defend ourselves with," said Marik picking up another jewel-covered rod. Then Tristan and Tea came falling out of the chute.

"Tristan! Tea!" shouted Yugi.

"Hey, Yugi. We were all afraid of taking another step forward, but then we realized we didn't have a choice if we wanted to stick together. So everyone else should be down here soon," Tea answered him.

"Hurry up and grab something to defend yourself," Yugi shouted back.

"Huh?" Tristan and Tea said at the same time. Then Tristan saw a mummy burst out of one of the caskets along the wall come charging toward him.

"Yaaaahhhh!" he cried running away from the zombie. He moved so quickly that he was about a quarter of a mile away from the chute when another mummy bursted out of one of the floor caskets and pushed Tristan down. The mummy pounced on him and started beating him with its fist.

Tea tried to save Tristan from the mummy that was chasing him, but then found that she herself was surrounded by four others with no weapon nearby for her to grab. Two of them charged at her, but she gracefully did a back flip in the air and then kicked off a pillar by her and landed outside the circle formed by the four mummies. She executed a karate kick to the back of one's head knocking it clean off its shoulders, and then did a spin kick to knock off the head off another one. The other two charged at her again, but this time she gracefully dropped down and stepped to the side, leaving her leg out for them to trip over. After the two mummies had tripped over her, she performed a devastating kick to the back of the neck of one of them and then punched the other one in the face as it got up.

Meanwhile, Tristan was being held back by one mummy while the other pummeled him. Then the mummy that was pummeling him stopped and picked up a heavy rod. Tristan thought he was done for, but Odion, who had been chasing after Tristan the whole time, tackled the one holding the rod and started bashing it with his fists. Tristan, who had already been weakened by the pummeling, struggled unsuccessfully to free himself from the one still holding him. While Odion was still taking care of the other mummy, Tea ran over to where Tristan was and executed a karate kick to the mummy holding him in the face.

"Thanks, Tea," said Tristan in a weakened voice. "I owe you one." Tristan was badly bruised on his face and chest.

"I'll help you walk back over there to the rest of the gang." Tea said letting Tristan hang over her shoulders while his feet dragged across the ancient floor. Then Duke, Bakura, Mai, Rebecca, Mokuba, Pegasus, Roland, Grandpa, Arthur, and Ishizu all came sliding out of the chute. Odion was holding Serenity once again.

"Tristan, what happened to you?" asked Serenity noticing the bruises all over Tristan.

"What's it look like? I got pummeled by a couple of mummies. Luckily, Tea and Odion were able to kick some mummy ass and save me."

"Poor Tristan," whispered Serenity.

Then they heard more groaning noises. "What's going on?" asked Pegasus. "Did I miss something?"

Marik looked and saw some coffins rattling in a very far part of the room. "Everyone pay attention to me," said Marik upon hearing Pegasus's question. "For those of you who just got here, this place is filled with the living dead. The mummies have been brought back to life somehow. They are very strong and can run very fast. Fortunately for us, there are many items scattered along the floor that can be used as weapons. Find something to protect yourself right now." Everyone did as Marik suggested. Odion had to give his rod back to Marik because it was too difficult for him to hold the rod and Serenity at the same time. Roland, Pegasus, and Arthur each found rods buried underneath the coins. Yugi, Joey, and Bakura each found swords with jewels embedded on them.

"Hey Marik, I don't think there's enough weapons in this place to protect everyone," Joey commented.

"In that case, those of you without weapons will have to stand close to someone who does have one," he responded.

Rebecca and Tea immediately went by Yugi; Mai stood by Joey's side; Odion and Serenity were standing by Arthur; Mokuba and Tristan went over to Bakura; Roland and Solomon Muto teamed up; Ishizu got close to her brother Marik; and Duke stood by Pegasus's side.

Rebecca clutched Yugi's arm. "Yugi, I'm scared."

"Don't worry, Rebecca. We'll make it out of here alive. I promise."

The groups spread out into a horizontal line with Joey and Mai on the far left; Bakura, Mokuba, and Tristan next to Joey's group; Yugi, Tea, and Rebecca, next to Bakura's group; Odion's group next to Yugi's; Pegasus and Duke next to Odion's group; Roland and Solomon next to Pegasus and Duke; and Marik and Ishizu to the far right. They marched slowly down the hall as they saw some caskets burst open with mummies charging at them. Unfortunately for them, there were also caskets that burst open from behind them. Now mummies were charging at them from the front and back.

Eight mummies surrounded Joey, Mai, Bakura, Tristan and Mokuba. Joey and Bakura were ready to slice and dice them, but three of them were also holding swords. Joey tried to bring his sword down on one of the ghouls, but it blocked his attack with his own sword. The mummy kicked Joey in his stomach and tried to cut off his left arm, but Joey responded with a block of his own. Bakura was battling one of the other creatures with a sword.

The third mummy with a sword had its eyes on Tristan. Mokuba was hidden behind a pillar so none of the monsters saw him. As Tristan was running away from it, Mokuba got out of his hiding spot, climbed on top of the mummy and covered its eyes. The zombie dropped its sword to get Mokuba off of itself and heaved him into a pillar, but Tristan picked up the dropped sword and pierced its stomach. One of the other mummies kicked Tristan hard in his stomach, making him drop the sword, but then Mai kicked that monster in the back, giving Tristan a chance to reclaim the sword.

Both Bakura and Joey leaped onto a pile of coins and continued their fencing match with the mummies targeting them. Their backs were to each other. Each mummy they were battling charged at them. They leaped off the pile of coins, and the two zombies ended up piercing each other instead of their intended targets. Joey and Bakura picked up the swords that the mummies had been using and gave them to Mai and Mokuba. Since all five were now armed with swords, they carved up the other five mummies with ease.

There were five mummies surrounding Yugi, Tea, and Rebecca. Rebecca was trembling and hiding behind Yugi, holding onto his pants. One of them charged forward, and Yugi plunged his sword into its belly. Another found a giant rock and threw it at Yugi, striking him in the face and causing him to drop his sword. Yugi had a gash on his forehead. The mummy that had thrown the rock pounced on him and started pummeling him. Tea was about to attack the mummy beating up Yugi, but she was grabbed on the arm by another. She skillfully slipped out of its grasp, grabbed its wrist and twisted it hard, ripping off the creature's hand. She kicked the monster on top of Yugi hard in the stomach. Tea was grabbed from behind by two more, but Rebecca picked up Yugi's sword and skewered them both.

Six of the living dead creatures surrounded Arthur, Odion, and Serenity. "Give me all you've got," said Arthur ready to take them down. Arthur whacked one of them on the head, but there were too many of them. One tried to bite Arthur on the leg, but he was wearing long pants that were really thick. The one Arthur had struck with his rod grabbed him from behind and knocked the rod out of his hand. While those two zombies were beating up Arthur, the other four were closing in on Odion and Serenity.

"Forgive me. I have to let you down." Odion set Serenity down on the floor and delivered a powerful kick to one of the mummy's stomachs. Odion then jabbed his elbow into the jaw of another mummy and punched another in the face. However, the fourth mummy got a hold of Odion's arm and bit him on the hand. "Owww!" Odion staggered away from the mummy

Pegasus saw that Odion was in trouble and whacked the mummy that bit him with his rod. "Are you all right?" he asked.

"I'll be okay, but Serenity and Dr. Hawkins need our help." Odion grabbed one of the monsters clobbering Arthur and punched its head off. Pegasus took care of the other by bashing it with his own rod.

Meanwhile, two mummies were approaching Serenity. Duke Devlin saw that Serenity was in trouble and kicked one of them in the stomach, but his foot went through it and stayed there. The creature clawed at Duke while he struggled unsuccessfully to get his leg out of there. Serenity was left with the one mummy. She realized it would be impossible to outrun it with her snake-bitten ankle. She bravely faced the mummy charging at her and executed a high kick to its head with her other leg. The zombie staggered for a while after its head fell off and then fell down. She saw Duke's foot was stuck in the other creature's stomach so she jumped in the air and delivered a spin kick to the mummy's head. When she landed she felt a sharp pain shoot through her body.

"Are you okay," Duke asked seeing her expression get tense after she landed.

She held her foot with a tense look on her face. "My foot. It hurts from the snake bite, and landing on it just made it worse. How about you?"

"I'm fine thanks to you. That was some real courage you showed. You can get on my back if it's hard for you to walk."

"Thanks, Duke. But I think I'll be fine. Odion said he would carry me the rest of the way."

Roland, Grandpa, Marik, and Ishizu were surrounded by seven mummies. Two of them were armed with rods. One of them threw its rod at Marik, striking him in the face. Marik dropped his rod, and Ishizu tried to pick it up, but she was tackled by two other mummies. Odion, seeing that Ishizu was in trouble, tackled both of those zombies. Marik picked his rod back up and started bashing one of them. Ishizu picked up the rod that one of the mummies had thrown at Marik and started bashing another one.

Roland handed his rod to Grandpa and sent a powerful kick to one of the rotting corpses. Two other mummies grabbed him, but Roland, being a very strong man, managed to overpower them both. Grandpa was doing battle with the other mummy armed with a rod. The mummy threw his rod at Grandpa. Grandpa put up his own rod to block it, but it hit his hand, causing him to drop it. The mummy started choking him. Grandpa struggled for a bit, put managed to put his hands on the mummy's head and twist it off.

After they killed all of the living dead, they marched forward for what seemed like an endless amount of time. The room seemed to go on forever. Then Marik noticed a huge piece of a wall that had been broken down. He walked past the torn up portion of the wall and into the other room. "Everyone, I think we've arrived at the resting place of the Millennium Items."


	20. Finding Kaiba in the Shadow Realm

**Finding Kaiba in the Shadow Realm**

**Author's Note: I would like to give a quick thank you to Agent of the Divine One for reading this chapter over and making sure there were no serious mistakes.**

Everyone stepped past the broken down wall with Marik in the lead. Rocks and broken down pillars were dispersed throughout the floor. One of the rocks had what looked like part of an eye on it. There was a giant well in the center of the room immediately in front of them with two small steps leading down. The broken down pillars still standing had some hieroglyphics on them. Marik walked all the way to the other side of the room where it looked like some rocks were blocking an exit.

"This is the stairway we took to witness the Pharaoh's duel with Yugi Muto." Marik walked over to the well and peered down it. "All I have to do is retrieve the Millennium Key from down there and Shadi should be here. Ishizu, can you hand me the rope?"

"Certainly, Marik." Ishizu pulled out a long rope from the bag she had been carrying. Marik let one end of the rope fall to the bottom of the well.

"Now, I'll need a few people to hold on to the rope while I climb down it and retrieve the Millennium Key." Joey, Tristan, and Roland volunteered.

As Marik climbed down, Pegasus thought he saw something. "W-what's that?" he cried full of fear. For about a fraction of a second, Pegasus thought he saw a face of a monster hovering over the well. Then the face vanished into thin air.

"What's what, Pegasus?" asked Joey. "I don't see anything."

"I think that creature that took over Kaiba's body is present in this room," Pegasus answered.

"I think Pegasus is right," Yugi contributed. "I think I saw that face myself."

Marik climbed back up the rope with the Millennium Key in his hand. "I've got it."

Then the spirit of Shadi appeared before them. "I see you all have made it here safely," he said.

"Not exactly," said Tristan. "We had to get past some traps, Serenity got bitten by a snake, and we were attacked by mummies. But we're here."

Marik handed the Millennium Key to Shadi. "Everyone, stand by me," said Shadi. "When we enter the Shadow Realm, your spirits will leave your body. So you might want to lie down so your bodies don't fall and hit something hard." Everyone lay down on the stone floor. Shadi began to speak. "By the power of the Millennium Key, I hereby transport all souls in this room to the Shadow Realm."

THE SHADOW REALM

The room filled with darkness. When they could no longer see anything in the room, dark purple clouds began to appear. Then it seemed like they were moving really fast down an endless tunnel.

"Hey, look at me," said Joey. "I'm floating in midair."

"We all are, you nimrod," said Tristan.

Seto looked into the darkness of the Shadow Realm and saw more clouds forming another vision. It looked like the playground of the orphanage he had spent so much time at. He saw little Mokuba playing with a toy airplane. There was a large intimidating kid standing over him accompanied by two others.

"It's Ushio, the one bully I couldn't stand up to," Seto muttered sadly to himself.

**(Author's note: If you're wondering who Ushio is, go back to the third episode of season 1, Journey to Duelist Kingdom. He was the bully who beat up Tristan, Joey, and Yugi in the flashback.) **

"Hey, there's Kaiba," said Mai pointing downward and to the left. He was still pretty far away from the others, but they were drifting closer to him.

"I see him," said Tea. "And it looks like Mokuba and Kaiba as little kids," she added pointing even farther into the distance. All of them looked to where Mai and Tea were pointing.

"But why are we seeing a little version of Seto and Mokuba?" asked Rebecca.

"I can explain that," Shadi answered. "You see, once you are trapped here, the Shadow Realm takes your worst nightmares and makes them a reality. In Kaiba's case, the Shadow Realm has been bringing him visions recalling the worst moments of his life," he told everyone. "And the more time you spend here, the worse your nightmares become."

"Man, that's rough," Joey replied.

"Wait a second. I recognize this setting. This is the orphanage Seto and I lived in before Gozaburo adopted us," said Mokuba. "And that kid standing behind me is Ushio, one of the meanest bullies at the orphanage."

"Ushio? You mean that kid that beat up me, Joey, and Yugi at Domino High?" asked Tristan. "He lived in the same orphanage as you and Kaiba?"

"And what's about to happen is not gonna be pretty," Mokuba added.

"Give me that airplane, kid," Ushio demanded. Ushio wrestled it out of little Mokuba's hands.

"Give it back, you creep."

"Okay, I'll give it back." Ushio then broke the little plane in half and handed the two pieces back to Mokuba. "There you go, you little runt."

Mokuba started crying. "You won't get away with this."

"And what makes you think that?" Ushio shot back.

"Because no one messes with my little brother and gets away with it."

"Huh?" Ushio said surprised. He turned around and saw little Seto standing before him. "Who are you?"

"The name's Seto. And you've just made a big mistake."

"Be careful, Ushio," one of his friends advised. "He's a lot stronger than he looks."

"I'm not afraid of this punk," he answered.

"It's time for me to teach you a lesson."

Little Seto charged forward to punch Ushio, but Ushio blocked his punch and kicked him in the stomach. Little Seto got back up and threw another punch at Ushio, but he dodged it. Ushio threw three counter punches, but little Seto managed to block all of them. Little Seto threw another punch, but Ushio caught his hand and pushed him back. They grabbed each others hands, and neither would let go. They both squeezed hard, but Ushio was much stronger. He squeezed Seto's hands so hard that it made him cry out in pain. Ushio let got, then delivered a left-hook to Seto's face, then a right hook and then kicked him hard in the stomach again. Little Seto got up but was aching so much that he could barely move. Then Ushio brought a karate chop down on Seto, making him fall down again. Ushio picked up little Seto by the back of his shirt and pants, and threw him into a pile of mud.

"Way to teach me a lesson, you little dweeb," Ushio taunted as he walked away with his two buddies.

Little Mokuba ran over to his big brother and cried even harder.

"Forgive me, Mokuba. I failed you," said little Seto, who managed to not shed a tear. Then little Mokuba and Seto vanished into the nothingness of the Shadow Realm. By now, the entire gang was within a few feet of Seto.

"Man, even as a kid Ushio was one mean bully," Seto heard a voice that sounded like Yugi say.

"This was one of the worst days of my brother's childhood," he heard another voice that sounded like Mokuba say.

"What the…?" Seto overheard the voices of Yugi and Mokuba. "Mokuba? Yugi?" He turned around and saw Mokuba, Yugi, Joey, Tristan, Tea, Mai, Duke, Serenity, Bakura, Rebecca, Pegasus, Roland, Grandpa Muto, Dr. Hawkins, Marik, Ishizu, Odion, and Shadi all floating in the Shadow Realm behind him. "What are you all doing here?" he asked perplexed.

"Shadi told us that the Seal of Orichalcos sent you to the Shadow Realm, so we're here to rescue you," Mokuba answered.

"You all aren't just another part of another Shadow Realm vision, are you?" They all looked at Seto dumbfounded.

"No," Shadi answered.

"Good, because I had one vision where the people started talking to me."

"In order to free you from the Shadow Realm, you must concentrate on moments in your life that made you really happy," explained Shadi. "Are you ready?"

"Yes." Seto closed his eyes and tried to think of happy times in his life.

_Seto's first thought_

Gozaburo had been putting a lot of pressure on Seto lately. He had to take five exams next week, and if he didn't get high enough scores, it was back to the orphanage. When he was resting his head on the coffee table, Gozaburo's servant Thompson came inside the room, bringing him a textbook.

"Sir Seto? Resting instead of studying, I see. Gozaburo will not be happy about this."

"Oh," Seto responded sleepily. "Please don't tell my stepfather about this. He'll take away one of my breaks."

"I'm afraid I have to. It is my duty after all. Here's your economics textbook. By the way, Gozaburo has decided that you must learn the material for chapter 8 also."

"Oh come on," Seto whined. "That's not fair. I have four other exams next week."

"Then you should be studying instead of sleeping." The servant then walked out of the room.

Seto opened the textbook and saw there were about 40 pages in chapter 8 alone. "Oh great! I'll never learn all this material in time." As he flipped through the book something fell out of it. It was a set of Duel Monsters card. He smiled.

_Mokuba must've snuck these in for me_, he thought.

"My deck," he said while looking at the Baby Dragon and Niwatori cards on top of the deck. "Well they're not the greatest cards, but they're mine." As he thumbed through the rest of the cards, he came across something that really made his day.

"Huh? Mokuba made me a Blue-Eyes card." Indeed there was a crayon drawing of a Blue-Eyes White Dragon among the cards. "I vow that one day I'm gonna become the owner of a real Blue-Eyes White Dragon."

_End of Seto's first thought_

_Seto's second thought_

Seto was sitting at a table dressed in a white suit with the big 5 behind him and Gozaburo sitting directly across the table.

"I have something to tell you," Seto said to Gozaburo. "The big 5 and I have decided to take control of KaibaCorp.

"Wrong, but nice try," Gozaburo responded. "See I knew about your plan to buy out KaibaCorp, but you were only able to buy 49%. And I'm afraid that leaves me with 51. You lose, Seto, because this company is still mine." Then Gozaburo got out of his seat, slammed his hand down on the table, and raised his voice. "And as for you five, as punishment for betraying me, you're all fired! And I'll make sure you never work in this town again. Now clean out your desks and get out of my sight right now! And don't think you're off the hook, Seto. You're heading back to the orphanage where ungrateful brats like you belong."

Seto gasped.

Then Mokuba entered the room. "Not quite," he said. "He's staying."

"What?" asked Seto. "How?"

"Easy," answered Mokuba. "Because I'm giving my 2% of KaibaCorp straight to you."

Gozaburo was shocked. "You're making a mistake, Mokbua," Gozaburo replied. "Remember how badly he treated you?"

"Seto and I are a team," Mokuba answered. "I never turn my back on him."

"You fool!" screamed Gozaburo.

"I have made up my mind," Mokuba replied.

Seto turned around and faced Gozaburo with a smug smile on his face. "You heard my brother. Now I'm the new president of KaibaCorp."

Gozaburo screamed and ran out of the room.

_End of Seto's second thought_

_Seto's third thought_

Seto couldn't believe it. He had eliminated his opponent's strongest monsters with his Crush card. He had his Blue-Eyes White Dragon on the field, and his opponent had no monsters or facedown cards to protect him. He was going to win the world championship.

The spectators started cheering wildly as the Duel Monsters World Championship was coming to a close. He could hear the spectators chanting "Kaiba! Kaiba! Kaiba!"

There was just one thing left to do. "Blue-Eyes White Dragon, attack his life points directly," Seto commanded.

The dragon fired a stream of energy from its mouth, bringing his opponent's life points down to 0. There was loud cheering throughout the stadium as the holograms slowly disappeared.

Then, Maximillion Pegasus, president of Industrial Illusions, walked over to Seto with a trophy in one hand and a microphone in the other. Pegasus handed Seto the trophy. "And the winner and Duel Monsters world champion is Seto Kaiba!" Pegasus announced through the microphone as he held up Seto's hand. Everyone cheered loudly for the new world champion.

_End of Seto's third thought_

Shadi held up his Millennium Key. "By the power of the Millennium Key, I hereby release this soul from the Shadow Realm." There was a spotlight that beamed brightly on Seto. He felt himself floating up along the light, and the others floated upward with him. Then he suddenly stopped going higher while the others continued to float above him.

"What's going on?" asked Seto.

Shadi stopped everyone's ascent so he could investigate what was going on. Then everyone saw a small green ring form around Seto's waist.

"What's this?" asked Shadi. Then the ring became slightly larger. There were some green line segments and strange symbols between the outer edge of the ring and Seto's waist.

Mai Valentine immediately recognized the symbol around Kaiba's waist. "Wait! Isn't that the Seal of Orichalcos?" she asked pointing to the circle.

As everyone soon saw, Mai was correct. The green circle became larger allowing everyone to recognize the symbol. The Seal pulled Seto downward back into the dark spot he had been staying in.

"Why didn't my Millennium Key work?" Shadi asked loudly to himself as they all floated back downward to where Seto was.

Then they heard a loud cackling noise. "Where's that coming from?" asked Tristan. Then a huge monstrous face appeared before them.

Yugi gasped in fear. "It's Ghost Kaiba!" he cried.

Then the face disappeared, and Ghost Kaiba appeared in his normal size floating toward everyone else with his cape blowing in the wind. "The answer to your question is quite simple, Shadi. The Seal of Orichalcos has to capture a soul so even your Millennium Key can't save him from the Shadow Realm."

"Wait! So you're the spirit that took over my body after I played the Seal of Orichalcos in my duel with Yugi?"

"Yes, I am the one who took control of your body."

"You," Seto said softly as he pointed his finger menacingly at the creature. Then Seto's voice gradually rose in a crescendo. "I would've won, and Yugi's soul would be trapped here instead of mine…if it wasn't for _**THAT FREEAAKKKK!**_"

Everyone who had come to rescue Kaiba was completely shocked by the cold-heartedness of Seto's proclamation.

"Geez, we came all the way here to rescue you, and this is the thanks we get?" Joey shouted pissed at Kaiba. "Do you know what we had to go through?"

"I got beaten up by mummies just to get here, you ungrateful jerk," Tristan responded to Kaiba.

"Serenity got bitten by a snake because of you, you asshole," yelled Duke.

As angry as those three were, no one in the group was angrier at Seto than Shadi. "**YOU FOOL!**" Shadi boomed loudly at Seto. Everyone was awestruck at how loudly his voice resonated across the void of the Shadow Realm. "Do you really think it would've made a difference whether he took over your body? You would've lost that duel even if that spirit over there hadn't taken over for you!"

As soon as Shadi was done speaking, Ghost Kaiba started his evil cackling again. "Is that the thanks I get for saving your life, Seto?"

"Saving my life? What the hell are you talking about?" Seto demanded to know. "It's because of you that I'm trapped here."

Ghost Kaiba merely chuckled at this. "Don't you remember your little trip to the bottom of the ocean to retrieve the Orichalcos card?"

_Reminder of what happened in Chapter 6_

Roland had just driven the submarine into the temple that was formerly Dartz's lair and had found a pocket of air within the temple. Seto got out of the submarine and dove into the water to go looking for the card. He swam past a doorway that was too small for the submarine to fit through and found some cards and a duel disk scattered all over the floor of the next room. He rummaged through some of the cards but couldn't find what he was looking for. Then he tried to swim back to the submarine because he was running out of oxygen but saw that there were several sharks circling him. Seto was certain he was about to die.

_Why_ _did_ _I_ _have_ _to_ _be_ _such_ _an_ _idiot_ _and_ _come_ _down_ _here!_

Seto was so overwhelmed with fear that he passed out.

_End of flashback_

"Weren't you the least bit curious as to how you got back to your submarine without being harmed by those sharks? It is because I scared them away and dragged your body back there with the Orichalcos card in your pocket while you were unconscious. So you're welcome."

"But why did you take control of my body in the first place?" Seto demanded to know.

"It's quite simple," answered the clown demon. "I have been a spirit trapped in the Shadow Realm for centuries looking for a way out. I can only inhabit the body of a person whose heart is filled with darkness. And gradually you became that way because of the way you were raised by your stepfather Gozaburo. But in order to truly escape the Shadow Realm, I have to take complete control of your body. I was only able to do that when you activated the Seal of Orichalcos card."

"Then why aren't you inside my body right now?"

"Because after the duel, you became unconscious, and I can't regain control of your body until it becomes conscious again."

"Of course!" said Shadi suddenly realizing something. "There were two souls inhabiting Kaiba's body when the duel ended. The Seal couldn't decide which one to take, so neither soul is in possession of his body. His body cannot regain consciousness until someone's soul inhabits it once again."

What Shadi just said gave Yugi a brilliant idea.

_Flashback_

The Pharaoh was standing on a plateau in a canyon-like area facing Rafael. Rafael had just summoned his Guardian Eatos.

"Guardian Eatos, destroy his monsters and the rest of his life points," said Rafael. Eatos raised her Celestial Sword and gave it a mighty swing that sent a shockwave obliterating the rest of the Pharaoh's monsters.

"Noooooo!" yelled the Pharaoh as his life points hit 0.

Rafael laughed evilly. "Time for you to pay up, Pharaoh," said Rafael as the Seal encircled him.

"No!" yelled Yugi pushing the Pharaoh out of the circle.

"Yugi, stop! What are you doing here?"

"It only needs one of us. So I'm letting the Seal take me instead."

"No. Yugi!"

The Seal then captured Yugi's soul.

_End Flashback_

"Waaiiit!" Yugi shouted loudly. "I just came up with an idea."

Everyone paused and turned toward Yugi.

"The Seal of Orichalcos only needs one soul. Kaiba and that evil thing over there were both involved in the duel." Then Yugi turned and pointed to the evil demon clown. "I propose that you should be trapped here instead of Kaiba."

"That would be a good idea. Unfortunately, it will only work if both agree to let one soul leave and the other stay," said Shadi.

"Well I'm certainly not gonna agree to let his soul leave this place while I stay here," said Seto.

"And nor will I agree to stay here while he leaves," said Ghost Kaiba.

"Well you two are gonna have to come to some sort of agreement," explained Shadi. "Otherwise you will both remain here forever."

"So how do we decide which soul gets to leave?" asked Joey.

Everyone sat in silence for about five minutes. Then an idea occurred to Seto.

_Of course. It's so obvious_, Seto thought to himself.

"I know how we can settle this," said Seto. "We'll duel each other. The winner leaves the Shadow Realm a free man. The loser is stuck here forever."

"Hmmm…" said the evil clown pondering over Seto's idea. "I think that is an excellent idea. I accept your challenge."

Seto Kaiba and Ghost Kaiba stood a good distance apart facing each other.

"Since you two have come to an agreement, you may build your decks with these," said Shadi. There were cards that suddenly appeared in front of them and floated upward like in the Cyber World duels. "When you see a card you like, simply touch it." Seto and Ghost Kaiba began touching random cards that floated up in the air. Duel disks suddenly appeared on their arms.

"All right, I have my deck ready," said Seto. "What about you?"

"I'm good to go."

"Then may the better duelist win. And when I defeat you, I will prove that I am the one who should have faced Yugi in that duel, not some clown freak," Kaiba taunted.

Ghost Kaiba merely smirked. "And when you lose, I will gain control of your body, and your soul will be trapped here for all eternity."

Both of them put their duel disks in position.

"Time to duel!" they both yelled.


End file.
